UC Davis blanks Northern Arizona, 2-0

August 28, 2016

LAS VEGAS - After suffering a heartbreaking result Friday night, UC Davis bounced back with a dominating performance throughout Sunday's non-conference match at the UNLV Invitational, scored twice in the second half and posted its inaugural shutout victory of the season by blanking Northern Arizona, 2-0.

With the result, UC Davis split its neutral site matches played this past weekend at Johann Field, and will now enter Friday's rivalry match, at Sacramento State, with a 2-2 record. The Lumberjacks will return to Flagstaff, Arizona, with a 1-3 record.

Once all weekend games concluded, tournament officials announced that Rachel Ahr and Andi Damian represented women's soccer on the UNLV Invitational All-Tournament Team.

For the second time this weekend, Celina Minissian found the back of the net and broke a scoreless tie to give UC Davis a 1-0 lead. Picking up her first assist of the season on that play was Damian.

Nearly 30 minutes later, Ahr doubled that advantage by capitalizing on a penalty kick, pushing her team's lead to a daunting two-goal margin in the process.

Minissian was responsible for a team-high three of the Aggies' nine shots on goal and two of their four shots on goal. Ahr recorded shots on goal on both attempts.

Even though NAU took 10 more shots (19-9) overall, UC Davis' backline never allowed the Lumberjacks to create a clean scoring lane at any point of the match. Rarely did a clean shooting lane present itself to Northern Arizona due to the Aggies' swarming defense; attempts were taken out of desperation once the Lumberjacks trailed.

UC Davis goalkeeper Alexis Smith collected her first shutout result of the season, and only needed to make two saves to help her team earn the victory. Of the two saves made by the sophomore, both took place before halftime.

Since joining the Big West Conference in 2007, UC Davis has not dropped a Causeway Cup match to its rivals -- a streak the Aggies will look to extend when they return to action Friday afternoon at Sacramento State. Kickoff at Hornet Field is set for 4 p.m.

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