BoxscoreFRESNO, Calif. ? A pair of goals in each half led defending Western Athletic Conference regular season champion Fresno State to a 4-0 victory over Louisiana Tech on Friday at Bulldog Stadium.
Fresno State (7-6-0, 2-1-0 WAC), which was the first school in WAC history to not allow a goal in conference play last season, has now held its opponent scoreless in 12 of its last 13 matches against WAC foes.
Despite surrendering four goals, sophomore goalkeeper
Tara Gavlak recorded a season- and career-high eight saves in the match.
Offensively, the Lady Techsters (2-10-1, 0-2-1 WAC) were led by freshmen
Kiva Gresham and
Katlyn Bachan, who had two shots on goal apiece.
Kat McCullough,
Caitlin Crawford and
Denise Wilson also registered one shot apiece.
?It was a very interesting game,? Louisiana Tech head coach
Kevin Sherry said. ?We had a good scoring chance in the first or second minute, and if that had gone in, the whole tone of the game might have been different.
?Overall, I couldn?t be happier. The difference, once again, was our conditioning level. This team, next year, will win some conference games because our conditioning level will be higher.?
Fresno got on the board at the 14:09 mark when a pass from Nicole Gutierrez was tipped in right in front of the net. The Bulldogs would add a score 20 minutes later when Ally Ventura connected off a free kick from Andrea Alires, giving FSU a 2-0 lead at the half.
Gutierrez would make it 3-0 at 58:13 off Alires? second assist of the day. A corner kick from Alires would find Brittany Thomas in front of the net to put Fresno State ahead 4-0 in the 74th minute.
?We?re still getting punished by making some basic errors,? Sherry said. ?They scored two off corner kicks or free kicks, so we?re giving away goals. But we?re really excited about the future. A 4-0 loss doesn?t reflect badly on our enthusiasm about how we played.?
The Lady Techsters will bus from Fresno to Reno, Nev., for a Sunday afternoon match with defending conference tournament champion Nevada. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Central time at Mackay Stadium on the UNR campus.
