UC Irvine Gets Past Fullerton

There were thoughts UC Irvine women’s soccer Coach Marine Cano refused to consider, even when things looked bad.

Certainly, there were reasons for doubt. Anteater shots were glancing off the goal posts. Irvine trailed at halftime. The team was in danger of missing the Big West Conference Tournament, which it will host Nov. 7 and 9.

Cano would have none of it.

By the end of the day, the Anteaters had a 3-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton at Titan Field, a spot in the tournament and a coach who could probably sell just about anything to his players.

“We weren’t going to let anything bad happen,” Cano said. “I knew how hard we worked all week. Good things were going to happen.”

Second-half goals by Stephanie Rigamat, Nicole Bucciarelli and Simone Ferrara fell into the good category. They erased Fullerton’s 1-0 halftime lead and eased whatever worries their coach had kept to himself.

“We knew it was going to go our way,” Bucciarelli said. “It was a matter of our shots not hitting the post.”

The Anteaters (11-7, 4-2 in conference) dominated play, getting off quality shots. But they were off by inches. Three shots hit the crossbar--two by midfielder Kristie Nakamura--and a fourth ricocheted off the right post. Two others sailed just high.

Even Bucciarelli, the college’s all-time goal scorer, missed wide after she appeared to have goalkeeper Marla Nelson beat. As a result, Fullerton led, 1-0, at halftime on Amy Barnes’ fourth goal of the season. Barnes took a long pass from Dolores Browning and, surrounded by three Irvine defenders, beat goalkeeper Kirsten Roy in the eighth minute. It was one of the few chances the Titans had all game.

It was beginning to look as if the host team was going to need tickets to get into the conference tournament.

“You know, I never even went there,” Cano said. “I could be standing here right now trying to explain why we aren’t in the tournament, but I didn’t go there.”

His players stopped by, briefly.

“Having the tournament at Irvine and not being in it would have really killed us,” said Bucciarelli, whose goal broke a 1-1 tie 20 minutes into the second half. “We couldn’t let that happen.”

Rigamat got them started on the road to recovery. She split two defenders and scored three minutes into the second half. It was her seventh goal on the season. The Anteater conditioning took it the from there.

Bucciarelli picked up a loose ball 35 yards out, raced to the net and fired a shot from 10 yards to break the tie. It was her 13th goal on the season and the 42nd in her career.

The Titans (6-10-1, 2-3) had few chances on offense and seemed to tire. They seemed so overwhelmed their defense turned somewhat rough. At one point, Fullerton midfielder Kerry Murray wrestled Rigamat to the ground, knocking her out of the game.

It didn’t slow the Irvine offense. Five minutes after Rigamat left, Heidi Reinhard lofted a pass in front of the net that Bucciarelli tipped to Ferrara for the game-clinching goal.

“The conditions out there weren’t good,” Cano said. “It was hot. It was rough. But not on us.”