FULLERTON, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans men's water polo team split the day on Friday at the Joust after hosting No. 17 Santa Clara University and the University of Toronto.
The Titans fell in a narrow defeat against No. 17 Santa Clara in a 12-9 loss for the first game of the day. The Titans came back in the second day to defeat the University of Toronto, 13-11.Â
Cal State Fullerton 9, No. 17 Santa Clara 12
The Titans once again came up short in a battle with a ranked team as they lost in the first game of the day against the No. 17 Santa Clara Broncos.Â
Dominic Hernandez led the Titans with 5 points after scoring three goals and getting two assists.
Alec Isaacman had three points after scoring one goal and tallying two assists. Â
Julian Nichols and
Jacob Hatch both scored two goals in the game.Â
Garrett Henderson made 10 saves for the game.
After the Broncos scored the first goal of the game, the Titans scored three straight goals behind
Dominic Hernandez,
Togan Ozbek, and
Jacob Hatch to take a 3-1 lead.  However, the Broncos tied the game at 3-3 before the first period ended.
The Titans jumped to 6-4 lead in the second quarter after back-to-back goals from
Julian Nichols and
Dominic Hernandez.  However, Santa Clara scored the final two goals of the period to make it a 6-6 game at  halftime.
The third quarter was a tightly fought quarter with only three goals scored total for the period. Â However, the Broncos outscored the Titans 2-1 to take a 8-7 lead heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Santa Clara scored first before
Dominic Hernandez answered to make it a 9-8 game.
The Broncos however scored three straight goals to take a 12-8 lead before
Jacob Hatch got a late consolation goal.
Cal State Fullerton 13, University of Toronto 11
The Titans had to come from behind in their second game of the day in their 13-11 win over the University of Toronto. Â
Zach Ewing led the Titans with a career high 8 points behind a 7-goal game along with one assist. This is the second seven-goal game in Titan history after
Dominic Hernandez scored seven against Mount Saint Mary's last season.Â
Togan Ozbek had three points after tallying 1 goal and two assists. Â
Julian Nichols had two goals for the game.
The Varsity Blues led the Titans 2-0 after the first quarter with the Titans playing a mostly reserve side to start the game.Â
The Titans however scored three straight to start the second period behind goals from Nichols and two from
Zack Ewing.
The Varsity Blues scored the final two goals in the second quarter to take a 4-3 lead into halftime.
The Titans and Varsity Blues traded goals throughout the third period with Ozbek, Hatch, Nichols denting the twine to make it 6-6.
Â
Zack Ewing went on a tear over the final 3:03 of the third quarter and scored three times before the period ended to give the Titans a 9-8 lead heading into the final quarter.
Ewing continued his stellar form to start the fourth quarter after scoring the first two goals of the period to put the Titans up 11-8. Â
The Varsity Blues got within twice a couple times but goals from Aaaron Ayala and
Shelby Johnson prevented the Varsity Blues from making a serious run against the Titans lead.
The Titans will now focus their attention to Big West Conference play. Â The Titans will host No. 14 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday with the game set to begin at 5:00 p.m. Â The Titans previously played the Gauchos to a close 14-12 loss in the Big West/WCC Challenge at LMU on September 20th.
SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitansTickets.com. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.Â
FOLLOW THE TITANS!
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).
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.
