FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's water polo fought a tough game against No. 8 Long Beach State before falling 20-13 on Saturday night. The Titans are 16-13 overall and 0-4 in conference play. 

Fullerton opened the scoring for the night a minute into the game with a shot from Bende Aubeli. Aubeli led the Titans in scoring with four goals on four shots for a season total of 35 goals. 

The Beach quickly answered with a goal and added six more to the board by the end of the initial eight minutes, but Julian Nichols and Jacob Hatch joined Aubeli with a goal each to trail 7-3. 

Aubeli (2), Hatch (2), and co-captain Nico D'Angelo had the most shooting success in the second quarter where they deposited five goals. The Titans continued applying pressure to the ranked conference opponent up until halftime, where they trailed by three goals. 

Before the break, Long Beach State's Riley Catino beat Hatch on the sprint twice. After the break, Hatch won the sprint against two different Beach players to show off his speed and control. 

Starting both second-half quarters strong, the Titans added five more goals to the board by the end of regulation. Francisco Paredes earned a goal of his own alongside Nichols and Aubeli in the third quarter to trail 14-11 with eight minutes left. 

The Titans slowed down in the final quarter putting up two goals from Ethan Cooney and D'Angelo. This first-year team struggled to come back from a 20-13 deficit but was able to keep the game within seven goals of the ranked cross-town rival. 

Garrett Henderson started and ended in goal for the Titans, grabbing four steals and nine saves. 

The Titans host the defending Big West Champions, No. 9 UC Irvine, for their final home game of the inaugural season on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.

WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.

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Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the water polo teams have established their own Twitter (@Fullerton_WP) and Instagram accounts (@Fullerton_WP).