ARCATA – Two second half goals and eight saves by keeper Jennie Paugh were enough for the Humboldt State women's soccer team to topple the 25th ranked side in the nation, the UC San Diego Tritons, 2-1 on Friday night in Redwood Bowl.
The win, the Jacks first of the season, improves their record to 1-4-0 overall, 1-2-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. UCSD falls to 3-2-0, 1-2-0 in conference play.
Paugh had eight saves on the nine shots on-goal she faced and earned the first win of her collegiate career in her first start.
“I was a little nervous at the beginning,” Paugh said. “We knew this was going to be a big match and we came out confident and ready to play.”
The Jacks had the first chance to score. In the 7th minute, Arielle Kern broke free down the left side and got behind the UCSD defense. With Carly Kolpin coming up the right side in support, Kern fired a shot that went just wide right of the net.
UC San Diego did score at the 10:49 mark. Sarah McTigue beat a Jacks' defender to a long through ball. She picked it up 16 yards out and shot it low to the far post. It was McTigue's first goal of the year and UCSD's third shot of the night.
The teams played evenly through the rest of the first half.
With steady pressure throughout the start of the second half, HSU got the equalizer in the 52nd minute. Sarah Nakamoto blasted a shot from 15 yards out that Triton keeper Kristin Armstrong failed to corral. Kern, standing on the doorstep, pounced on the rebound and passed it to Kim Carroll at the top of the six. Carroll shot it over Armstrong for the Jacks first goal of the season.
Five minutes later HSU struck for what would turnout to be the game winner. A foul by the Tritons it the penalty area gave the Jacks a penalty kick at the 56:25 mark. Nakamoto, who would lead Humboldt State with six shots on the night, took the penalty and found the back of the net giving HSU a 2-1 lead.
“All week long we talked about having a sense of urgency and intensity,” Nakamoto said. “We needed to turn our season around.
“If you wait to long to get things going it's mentally hard to come back. We needed a big result and knew we would get a lot of momentum moving forward if we could beat a really good team like UCSD.”
In the final 33 minutes, the match turned physical as the two teams battled to earn the win. HSU was hit with nine fouls and four yellow cards while the Tritons collected six fouls.
UCSD took seven of its 16 total shots in the last 30 minutes with Paugh making three of her eight saves to earn the win. Her record is now 1-1-0.
“I am ecstatic right now,” Paugh said. “Every year they are one of the teams that are at the top of our conference and plays in the NCAA tournament. We put it all together tonight.”
