MALIBU, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's water polo extended their win streak to six games in their 20-11 victory over Cal Maritime before falling to No. 4 Pepperdine on Sunday. The Titans stand 7-5 overall this season.Â
Cal State Fullerton 20, Cal Maritime 11
Cal Maritime beat the Titans to the goal for a 2-0 lead before
Ethan Cooney cut it in half with 3:25 on the clock with a shot assisted by
Jacob Hatch. Hatch evened the score at 2-2 after a penalty foul was whistled on Cal Maritime's defender.Â
The Titans took their first lead on a power-play shot by
Alec Isaacman following a pass from
Reese Starkey.Â
Francisco Paredes opened the second quarter with a goal assisted by
Dominic Hernandez, grabbing a 4-2 edge over the Keelhaulers. Hernandez extended the lead to 5-2 from the five-meter mark.Â
Nico D'Angelo regained a three-goal lead (6-3) for the Titans after Cal Maritime beat
Seth Zarn between the posts.
Togan Ozbek and Cooney scored two goals to lead the Keelhaulers, 8-4, at halftime.Â
Hernandez collected two more goals less than 30 seconds apart in the third quarter for a 10-4 lead. Isaacman added to the fire on the five-meter attempt, keeping a perfect performance at the line for the Titans (3-3).Â
Starkey grabbed three goals goal of his own to maintain a 15-8 lead with one quarter left. A pass from Hernandez found an open Starkey for the 16th goal before Ewing won two meetings with the goalie for an 18-8 lead.Â
Paredes and Pearce finished the scoring for the Titans in the final minutes of play to secure a 20-11 win over the Keelhaulers.Â
Pepperdine 17, Cal State Fullerton 10
Fullerton found themselves in a 3-0 deficit two minutes into the game. Cooney deposited a pass from D'Angelo with a one-man advantage to start their comeback effort.
D'Angelo found an opening after Hatch distracted Pepperdine's goalie, cutting their deficit in half (4-2).Â
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The Waves continued to pressure the Titans with a 7-2 lead before Ozbek netted a power-play ball for Fullerton's third goal. Hatch took his time setting up his shot, scoring his 15th goal of the season with two minutes to spare in the second quarter.Â
Nichols and Cooney contributed to closing Pepperdine's lead to 9-6, leaving the first half down three goals. Cooney scored his third goal in the third quarter where the Titans trailed 14-7.Â
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Ozbek deposited a power-play goal and a penalty shot in an effort to stop the Waves but was not enough. The Waves continued their run, stopping Fullerton from securing a comeback win in the fourth. Hernandez made the final goal of the game to break double digits before dropping the second game of the day, 17-10.Â
Titans Water Polo hosts their first Titan Invitational tournament on Sept. 22-23. On Friday, the Titans will face Austin College at 3 p.m. and Air Force at 7 p.m. Saturday, they will take on Biola at 10:30 a.m. and Claremont-M-S at 5 p.m.Â
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).
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