Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. - The start of Thursday's Big West Conference home opener at Aggie Soccer Field, versus Cal State Fullerton, may not have been what UC Davis desired, but its second-half comeback led to the perfect result as the Aggies turned a 2-0 halftime deficit into a thrilling 3-2 victory over the two-time defending league champions by scoring all of their goals within a 15-minute timespan late in the second half.

UC Davis will seek a weekend sweep this Sunday at Hawai'i, and enter that 8 p.m. Pacific / 5 p.m. Hawai'i BWC matchup with a 5-5-3 overall and 1-0-1 conference record. The Titans, who entered the week in first place, will return to Orange County with respective records of 5-8 and 2-1.

For the first portion of the match, it was Cal State Fullerton that controlled the pace of play and jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after scoring in the 21st and 35th minutes.

Even though both teams recorded five total shots and four on goal, it was the Titans who were able to create dangerous scoring chances and capitalized on those opportunities prior to the break.

But once both teams returned to the field for the start of the second half, it was UC Davis that dominated play throughout the remaining 45 minutes of regulation and played championship-caliber soccer.

For all but a couple moments of the second half, the Aggies successfully kept the ball within CSF's half of the field. Even though it took until the 71st minute to begin its comeback, UC Davis could have scored on numerous occasions leading up to Zuzu Romano's goal, which ended the Titans' shutout bid.

It was Nicole Carson who raced down the far sideline past two Titan defenders, turned the corner, dribbled down the end line and set up Romano's goal. Once the freshman forward neared CSF's net, she set up a one-time strike that Fullerton goalkeeper Morgan Bertsch had no chance of stopping.

Five minutes later, the Aggies' aggressive play paid off once again when they were fouled inside the 18-yard box and drew the team's fourth penalty kick of the season.

Moments later, Andi Damian stepped to the spot and blasted a shot towards the upper right-hand corner of the goal. Bertsch was able to deflect Damian's attempt, but the senior forward's kick was taken with such pace, the ball deflected off the goalkeeper's hands, bounced off the post and crossed the end line. In a valiant attempt, Bertsch did knock the ball back into play, but her efforts were for naught because the near linesman signaled that Damian did score the game-tying goal.

"This team was recruited to play with a lot of momentum. Once we were able to score that first goal, we were able to create additional opportunities," said UC Davis head coach Twila Kaufman.

Even if there was any doubt on Damian's PK, a heads-up play by Nicole Bouvia would have tied the match anyway had the ball not completely entered the Titans' net. Just to make sure, since some players on the field were unaware of the official result of Damian's penalty kick, Bouvia beat three Titans to the ball after Bertsch knocked it back into play and punched it back into the goal.

UC Davis gave its fans every reason to cheer once action resumed after halftime since 14 of its 19 shots -- two shy of matching a season high -- and all but one of its eight corner kicks took place in the second half. But it was a SportsCenter Top 10-quality play from Alicia Sloss that sent the Aggie faithful into a frenzy, and broke Fullerton's spirits.

Earlier in the match, Sloss' hustle turned a would-be Cal State Fullerton goal kick into an extended UC Davis possession. When one of her teammates tried to pass the ball to her on a 1v1 counterattack midway through the second half, that kick overshot its intended target and began rolling towards the end line.

Rather than giving up on the play, Sloss sprinted towards the ball and kept in in play. Trailing her the entire time was a Titan defender, who was unable to stop on a dime and knocked Sloss to her knees by accident by running into her.

Since the referee allowed the Aggies to play the ball on an advantage, Sloss rose to her feet and continued play in front of CSF's goal. By keeping the ball alive, instead of giving Bertsch a free opportunity to punt the ball downfield, Sloss' hustle led to Romano's goal a couple minutes later.

In the 85th minute, Sydney Burger saw Sloss unmarked on the opposite half of the field, and quickly directed the ball towards her direction. Once received, Sloss spun around her defender towards the middle of the field and wasted no time, once she created enough space to take her second shot of the afternoon. With a narrow window to work with, the Torrance native's attempt sailed just outside the reach of Fullerton's goalkeeper, and came to a stop inside the far post. With that jaw-dropping play, UC Davis' players on the field, fans in the stands and bench erupted while Titan players trudged back to midfield.

"More than anything, I just did not want to be offsides," said Sloss regarding the decisive play of Thursday's league home opener. "Once I received Sydney's cross, I wanted to make a play towards the middle of the field since I was able to get position inside my defender. I wasn't looking to score when I received the ball, but took the shot once I had the opportunity."

Sloss and her teammates will now head to Hawai'i for its next match, a live stats link for Sunday's contest is available at UCDavisAggies.com.