DAVIS, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton men's water polo season came to an end on Friday afternoon as the No. 6 seeded Titans fell to the hosts and No. 3 seeded UC Davis Aggies 13-11 in the Big West Championship First Round at the Schaal Aquatic Center on the campus of UC Davis.  

Fullerton had a late rally to bring the Titans within two goals during the final minute and a half of play, but the Titans couldn't score on their final opportunities to get the equalizing goals.  

Alec Isaacman led the Titans with 4 points on the day after scoring a hat trick and tallying an assist.  Julian Nichols scored two goals as well as Nico D'Angelo.  Bende Aubeli, Dominic Hernandez, Togan Ozbek, and Francisco Paredes all scored one goal in the game.  Garrett Henderson finished the game with 13 saves.

UC Davis jumped to a 2-0 lead to start the game before Nico D'Angelo got the Titans on the board in the first quarter.  The Aggies went ahead 3-1 before Dominic Hernandez scored a goal with 8 seconds left in the quarter to make it a 3-2 game after the first period.

In the second quarter, Julian Nichols started the period off with his 100th career goal as a Titan to tie the game up at 3-3.

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— Titans Men's & Women's Water Polo (@Fullerton_WP) November 23, 2024

The Aggies then went on a 6-1 run the rest of the quarter with Togan Ozbek getting a goal midway through the period.  The Aggies led 9-4 at the end of the second quarter which proved to be a difference at the end of the game.  

Alec Isaacman led the third quarter with his first goal of the day and Bende Aubeli also scored in the period.  The Aggies led 12-6 after the third quarter, outscoring the Titans 3-2 for the period.

Facing their final eight minutes of the season, the Titans went all out during the fourth quarter.  Francisco Paredes got an early goal to start the period off and make it 12-7.  The Aggies got one goal back to maintain then 6-goal advantage with 5:52 left in the game.  Then it was all Cal State Fullerton the rest of the way.  Isaacman got back-to-back goals to make it a 13-9 game with 3:47 left to go.  Nico D'Angelo and Julian Nichols scored as well to put the Titans within two goals with 1:32 left to play.  However, the Titans turned the ball over and couldn't find the goal again during the final 92 seconds of play.

The Titans will graduate 14 seniors from this years team which is their inaugural senior class since the program's rebirth.  

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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. 

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