The UCSD women’s soccer team took advantage of Cal Poly Pomona’s severe offensive woes on Sept. 24, blanking the Broncos 1-0 in a California Collegiate Athletic Association home match.

The No. 20 Tritons (7-1 overall, 3-1 CCAA) frustrated the Broncos with a single momentous goal that came on a penalty kick by freshman Natasha Belak-Berger in the 53rd minute of the second half of the game.

Belak-Berger asserted herself in an exciting four-minute stretch in the second half, beginning at the 51:07 mark when she was assessed a yellow card on a hard tackle.

Only a few minutes later, Belak-Berger was taken down inside the Cal Poly Pomona penalty area and awarded a penalty shot, which she carefully knocked into the left corner of the goal.

The party was over for Belak-Berger soon after her goal. After an attempt to slow down a Bronco penalty restart, Belak-Berger was carded again for an infraction.

Belak-Berger found herself with two yellow cards for the night, which automatically resulted in a red card and an ejection.

The ejection came at the 54:45 mark and left the Tritons with a player down for the remainder of the match.

“We played with great control and did well with only 10 players,” head coach Brian McManus said.

After Belak-Berger was sent off, the Broncos launched into an aggressive offensive push, which resulted in six corner kicks and four legitimate offensive attacks in the final 35 minutes.

“In the second half, we were able to push the Broncos, but we did not have lots of opportunities for scoring,” sophomore Kathy Sepulveda said.

Two of the Broncos’ four shots were saved at the mouth of the UCSD goal by freshman goalie Mia Shirley, the only UCSD saves made during the evening.

Though the Broncos earned six second-half corner kicks, none of them were able to find the back of the net. The Triton defense grew more assertive and fought hard against the offensive pushes of the Broncos in order to hold on to the lead.

“In the first half we laid off with defense, but in the second half we really stepped up the pressure,” McManus said.

Furthermore, despite the fact that the Broncos had a notable 8-1 edge in corner kicks for the game, they were unable to convert any of them into a goal.

In addition, the Tritons topped Cal Poly Pomona in shots. The Broncos were on the short end of a 15-4 count for shots, but spent the large majority of the second half at UCSD’s end.

“It was a frantic game — Cal Poly Pomona played their ‘A’ game,” junior Kelly Cochran said.

The game turned into an intensely physical match on both sides of the field, as evidenced by the 32 fouls called and five cards assessed.

“We stayed strong and everyone played their hearts out,” junior Heather Sugg said.

With the loss, the Broncos fell to 2-6-1 overall and 1-2-1 in league action.

Earlier in the week, the Tritons shut out No. 12 Cal State Dominguez Hills, 2-0, on the road, ending a two-game losing streak against the Toros dating back to last season.

UCSD freshman Kelly Mayo notched her first goal of the season at just over four minutes into the contest, taking a cross from junior Alise Malley and beating Toro goalkeeper Lisa Agramonte to the near post for a quick 1-0 lead.

The goal was the first of Mayo’s career, while Malley’s assist was her sixth of the season.

Seemingly shell-shocked, the Toros managed only five shots in the first 45 minutes, with most coming from long range.

The Tritons took that 1-0 lead into intermission and built on it early in the second half as junior Megan Dickey sent home a goal at the 48-minute mark of the match.

Dickey, who entered the contest the league leader in points, took an unassisted rebound off a blocked shot and beat Agramonte for her eighth goal of the season.

The Toros, who seemed a step slow all afternoon, put together valiant attempts at a comeback, but failed to put pressure on Shirley, who was bolstered by her team’s assertive defense.

Shirley notched her first career shutout with the win. She made seven saves in the Triton win, while Agramonte notched only two saves in the loss.

The Tritons took two more shots on the night than did the Toros while attempting two less corner kicks.

Both teams had one yellow card in the match while Cal State Dominguez Hills committed 12 fouls to UCSD’s nine.

UCSD returns to action next week, traveling to Sonoma State on Sept. 30 and San Francisco State on Oct. 2.