Riverside—The UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton Women's Soccer Teams engaged in an old-fashioned slugfest Sunday evening in a battle for Big West Conference supremacy, but the lone score of the match came on a Titans PK giving Fullerton a 1-0 victory.

Both teams were 3-1 in conference heading into the match, as was Long Beach State who took on UC Irvine Sunday. The Anteaters topped the 49ers, 2-0, meaning the winner of the Highlanders-Titans match up would sit alone atop the standings for at least the next five days.

The play was even throughout with UC Riverside (9-7-0, 3-2-0) out-shooting Cal State Fullerton (12-2-1, 4-1-0) on the night 17-14 including 11-5 in the second half. The Highlanders also had five corner kicks to just two for the Titans.

But the lone score of the match came in the 61st minute of play when the Highlanders were defending in their own 18. They were whistled for a foul in the box on a slide tackle, and Morgan Batcheller converted on the subsequent penalty kick to put the Titans on top.

UC Riverside pushed to tie, and thought they had the equalizer in the 79th minute on an Alexa Bustamante header which danced along the end line, but the officials allowed play to continue amidst the Highlanders' protests.

UCR's task got more difficult with just over 10 minutes remaining when Blanca Barrio received her second yellow card of the match forcing the Highlanders to play a woman down.

The ejection seemed to energize UC Riverside as they once again pressed forward on offense. With less than 10 seconds remaining, the ball was in the Titans' 18 and Sammy Arellano uncorked a shot towards the Fullerton goal. A Titans defender rose to block it, and appeared to extend her arms, deflecting the ball.

A hand ball call would have given the Highlanders the opportunity at a game-tying penalty kick, but once again, the their protests fell on deaf ears, and the clock ran down to 0:00.

UC Santa Barbara and CSUN also won Sunday evening, moving them past the Highlanders, and UC Riverside is now tied with Long Beach State and the Gauchos for third place in the Big West standings.

There are three more matches left in the regular season, and the top four teams in the conference advance to the Big West Tournament.

UC Riverside heads up the coast to take on UC Santa Barbara on Friday, October 23 at 7 pm PT and Cal Poly on Sunday, October 25 at 1 pm.