Golden Goal From Boujos Sets Up Big West Tournament Championship Rematch
Senior Kristen Boujos scored the game-winning goal just over four minutes into the second overtime to give top-seeded Cal State Fullerton a dramatic 2-1 double-overtime win over #4 seed UC Irvine in Friday's second semifinal of the Big West Women's Soccer Tournament. The Titans advance to the tournament final for the third straight year, facing Cal Poly in a rematch of last year's championship. Kickoff is Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Titan Stadium.
The Titans improved to 12-7-1 on the year while the Anteaters finished their season at 11-7-2. Cal State Fullerton will attempt to become the first team in Big West tournament history to win three straight titles, facing a Mustang program that has earned a league-best three tourney crowns.
Boujos, the 2006 Tournament MVP, knocked home her second goal of the year at the 104:10 mark on a wild sequence. Casey Schostag's corner kick deflected off a pair of Titans before trickling out to Nicole Scheid, who fired a shot that got blocked by UC Irvine’s Kate Berrini. The ball then squirted out to Boujos, who unleashed a shot from six yards that found the left side of the net.
Boujos nearly didn't get a chance to provide the game-ending heroics.
UC Irvine connected for the game's first goal at the 79:26 mark as an opportunistic Nikki Forrest pounced on a ball that had ping ponged off of several players, slipping it through traffic and past CSF goalkeeper Shayla Sabin for the 1-0 lead.
The score remained that way inside of four minutes when the outcome appeared to be heading in UCI's favor. However, the Titans stepped up their aggressive play and found the equalizer on a great timing play from Jenae Gibbens and Brianna Buffington.
Gibbens served up a long pass just before midfield that connected with a streaking Buffington down the middle. Buffington ran onto the pass, dribbled a few times in the box and delivered a low shot to the left of the UCI keeper to tie the game at 1-1.
The Titans outshot UCI 5-0 in the two overtimes and 19-6 for the game. CSF also held the advantage in corner kicks, 8-2.
UCI freshman Danielle de Seriere made seven saves in goal, while Sabin had two for the Titans.
#3 Cal Poly Upsets #2 Long Beach State to Advance to Big West Title Match
After falling a week ago to the 49ers in a regular season match, third-seeded Cal Poly gained a measure of revenge as the Mustangs upset #2 seed Long Beach State, 2-1, in the first semifinal of the 2007 Big West Women's Soccer Tournament. The tourney is being held at Titan Stadium on the campus of Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, Calif. Cal Poly advances to the Big West Championship match for the second consecutive season to face the winner of the second semifinal match between #4 UC Irvine and host #1 Cal State Fullerton.
Much as been the case during the latter portion of the season, Cal Poly used great defense and an opportunistic offense to claim the win. The Mustangs turned away an aggressive LBSU attack in the first half, weathering six shots by the 49ers in the opening stanza.
Long Beach State had several solid chances in the first half, but Cal Poly goalkeeper Alli Tramel was up to the task. Tramel made two outstanding saves, one on a high ball by the 49ers’ Kristen Kiefer and another on a one-on-one chance against LBSU star Kim Silos.
With the score knotted at 0-0, Cal Poly picked up the game's first score on a brilliant play in the 53rd minute. The Mustangs' Monica Hemenez bent a perfect cross into the goalmouth where it was chested in by Ashley Vallis, her second goal of the season. It was Cal Poly’s first shot of the match.
With the lead in tow, the Mustangs turned to their defense and Tramel to keep Long Beach State at bay. Tramel did her part with a couple of outstanding saves on shots by Kiefer and Hayley Bolt.
The Mustangs then cashed in on another opportunity in the 72nd minute as a turnover in the LBSU defensive third put the ball on Sharon Day's foot. She uncorked a hard shot that went by 49ers goalkeeper Breanna Truelove, but hit the crossbar. Fortunately for the Mustangs, Carissa Voegele was there for the rebound as she buried it home in the empty net for the 2-0 lead.
Cal Poly then packed it in defensively to protect the two-goal lead. Long Beach State relentlessly attacked the Mustang goal, but could not put anything across until the 83rd minute. A ball was played into the box and juggled around the goalmouth until Lindsay Bullock knocked it past Tramel to cut the lead to 2-1.
Long Beach State tried desperately to get the tying goal on the board, but the Cal Poly was up to the task as it turned away every LBSU advance.
For the match, Long Beach State out-shot Cal Poly 21-3, including a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal, and had five corner kicks to none for Cal Poly. Tramel picked up six saves in net, while Truelove did not record a stop.