Box Score (PDF)
Post Game Quotes (PDF)
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton men's soccer team lost a gut-wrenching decision to San Diego in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Torero Stadium Thursday night, falling in double overtime on a golden-goal penalty kick converted by Dave Musambi to give USD the 2-1 win.
The Titans end the 2014 season with a 10-8-6 record, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for only the eighth time in Division I history. The Toreros will move on to face No. 3 UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday after the Bruins earned a first-round bye for being ranked as one of the top-16 teams in the nation at season's end.
In the early going, the game was dominated by San Diego as Salt came up huge for the Titans once again, stopping a one-on-one chance in the second minute, and a follow up header just seconds later to keep the score tied at 0-0.
The Titans had trouble getting into the San Diego half for most of the first half, but Ian Ramos and Gabriel Quintero made their first chance on Torero keeper Thomas Olsen count. Following a corner kick that was cleared away by the USD defense, the ball ended up with Quintero 30 yards from goal. He sent a cross in and found a wide open Ramos on the far right side of the box, Ramos headed it back across net into the far left post to give Fullerton the early 1-0 lead in the 13th minute.
The Titans took that early lead into halftime as both teams battled for possession the rest of the half, but neither had chances on net. The Titans had been 7-0 in games where they took the lead into the last 45 minutes of regulation before tonight.
In the 88th minute, Fullerton was whistled for a hand ball in the box giving the Toreros one last chance to tie the game and save their season. USD's Smith stepped up to the penalty spot and powered a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to tie the score 1-1, firing up the Torero crowd as the game headed into overtime just minutes after the equalizer.
After an uneventful first overtime, the double overtime session on Thursday night started with fireworks. San Diego's Keegan Smith was whistled for a foul and was issued a red card, for his second yellow card of the game. This forced the Toreros to play a man down for the rest of the match.
But in the 103rd minute momentum was put back in favor of USD as the Titan defense was whistled for a foul on a tackle in their own box, handing the Toreros a chance to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament. Musambi was chosen to take the shot this time around, and he did not dissapoint the Torero faithful, placing his shot past Jeff Salt to win the game for USD 2-1.
Notes: The Titans overall record against San Diego moves to 10-13-4…The Titans and Toreros played to double overtime in their first meeting of the season on Sept. 1, with the game ending in a 0-0 draw...Ian Ramos' 13th minute goal tonight moves the 2014 Titans into first place in the school record book for total season goals with 34… …The Titans finish the 2014 season tied for the school record for most shutouts in one season, both the 2014 team and the 1993 team finished with nine…Jeff Salt was riding a 200 minute shutout streak before it was snaped by the penalty kick goal in the 88th minute of tonight's game…The 2014 Titans earned a double-digit win season for the first time since 2001…Fullerton also garnered its first winning season since 2001…Jeff Salt finishes the season with a goals against average of 0.89, good for second place in the Fullerton record book , only Nart Arislanook posted a better average in a season in 1982 when he posted a 0.82 goals against average…Salt also tied Arislanook for second place in season shutouts with seven, only trailing Bob Annman who had nine in 1993...The Titans had 12 seniors playing in their last game in a Fullerton uniform: Gabriel Quintero, Jordan Wolff, Marc Fenelus, Amara Soumah, Ian Ramos, Ritchie Gonzalez, Spencer Johnson, Jesse Vega, Alex Cannas, Garrett Losee, and Fermin Villalba…The Titans dropped their first game this season after taking a lead into the final half of regulation, they were a perfect 7-0 before tonight…With 10 wins this season, George Kuntz has the most wins in his first season as head coach since Al Mistri won 13 games in his inaugural season on the Titan bench in 1981.
