IRVINE, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton faced two nationally ranked teams on Saturday, but were unable to come out on top. The Titans gave it their all against in both games and really made a push in the final game of the tournament, but the final result was not what CSF was looking for going into the weekend.
TITANS 8, No. 7 UC IRVINE 15
The Fullerton Titans got off to a late start in game one on Saturday, resulting in what would eventually be a 15-8 defeat by Big West opponent, UC Irvine.
The nationally ranked, No.7 UC Irvine Anteaters dominated in the first quarter, putting four in a row past the Titans goalkeeper.
Alec Isaacman struck with less than a minute left in the first to put CSF on the board.
UCI headed into the second quarter leading 4-1 and kept their momentum going as they opened the second with back-to-back goals.
Julian Nichols fired one in with a minute to go and
Ethan MacLeod tacked onto that, putting a goal in with three seconds left in the half. The Anteaters still led 7-3 going into halftime.
Andrew Barnuevo, MacLeod and Isaacman each put one in the back of the net in the third quarter, but the Anteaters outscored the Titans once again by a score of 5-3.
Freshmen,
Samuel Branco and
Luke Vargas, recorded a pair of goals to catch up to UCI, but Irvine kept scoring, leading to a final score of 15-8.
Isaacman and MacLeod each tallied two goals, while Isaacman also contributed two assists.
TITANS 15, No. 13 CAL BAPTIST 19
Fullerton competed in a tight head-to-head match against the nationally ranked No. 13 CBU Lancers, but ended up falling 15-19.
Alec Isaacman recorded a career-high goals in a single game with seven on Saturday evening. Isaacman put two in the back of the net in the first, three in the third and two more in the fourth quarter. He also had two assists against the Lancers.
Nico D'Angelo and
Jacob Hatch each scored two goals while
Togan Ozbek,
Tony Benedetti,
Francesco Schiaffino, and
Carmelo Bangs also found the back of the net, contributing to Fullerton's 15. D'Angelo tallied two assists while Hatch logged three. In the goal,
Ethan Ivey stopped 13 balls from finding the back of the net.
The Lancers outscored Fullerton in the first and second quarter by a score of 4-3. After the half, the Titans matched CBU, putting five in the net. Going into the fourth quarter, the Titans trailed 11-13 and they gave it their all, posting another four goals, but it was not enough to match CBU's six in the fourth.
The Titans are still on the hunt for their first win of the season and will be in action at the Rare Air Challenge in Colorado next Saturday as they take on Augustana and Air Force.
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.
FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (
Facebook/FullertonTitans), X (
@FullertonTitans) Instagram (
@FullertonTitans), YouTube (
FullertonTitansAthletics) and TikTok (
@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.
