Posted: May 14, 2015
FULLERTON, Calif. – The defending Big West Conference Tournament champion Cal State Fullerton men's soccer team has released its upcoming 2015 fall schedule, it was announced on Monday by second-year head coach George Kuntz.
The Titans, who secured their first Big West Conference Tournament Championship in 2014, will feature at Titan Stadium 11 times throughout 2015 including the season opener against No. 15 Cal Berkeley on Aug.16. The Bears finished 18th in RPI a year ago, thanks to an offense that led the country in scoring.
Following the season-opener against Cal, Fullerton will travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State University on Aug. 28. The Buckeyes ended 2014 one spot out of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America top-25 rankings, receiving 25 votes in total.
The Titans will stay in Columbus to take the pitch against Wright State (Aug. 30) for a neutral site match before heading back to Titan Stadium to take on George Washington (Sept. 4).
For the second-straight season the Titans will face off against Santa Clara (Sept. 6), with this year's contest taking place at Buck Shaw Stadium. Fullerton beat the Bronco's last season at Titan Stadium, 1-0, behind a Garrett Losee goal in the 67th minute of play.
Fullerton returns home for a three-game home stand at Titan Stadium against San Francisco (Sept. 13), San Diego (Sept. 18), and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (Sept. 20).
The game on Sept. 18 against San Diego will be a re-match of the 2014 NCAA Tournament First Round matchup in which the Toreros won, 2-1, in dramatic fashion.
The first of two final non-conference matchups will feature the last out-of-state road trip for the Titans as they travel to Orem, Utah to play Utah Valley on Sept. 24 at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time.
For the second-consecutive year, the Titans will face Grand Canyon University for the non-conference season finale. Fullerton welcomes the Lopes to Titan Stadium (Sept. 27) after coming out on top of last season's matchup, 1-0, in Phoenix, Ariz.
The road to defending the Big West Conference Tournament title starts with two games at Titan Stadium against Sacramento State (Oct. 1) and against UC Davis (Oct. 3). The Titans will look to get off to a better start against the two teams to begin conference play, as the Titans fell to UC Davis (3-1) and Sacramento State (1-0, 2OT) in their first two Big West contests a year ago.
The Titans will hit the road for their season-high, three-game road trip beginning at Cal Poly (Oct. 8), continuing on to UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 10), and ending at CSUN (Oct. 14).
Fullerton earned a win in their 2014 Big West Conference home opener against UC Santa Barbara a year ago, 2-0, on Robert Coronado's game-winning goal in the 42nd minute of action, snapping a 12-game unbeaten streak in regular-season conference play for the Gauchos.
UC Irvine will make the trip to Titan Stadium on Oct. 17 in a 7:00 p.m. re-match of the 2014 Big West Tournament Final game in which the Titans won 3-2 by virtue of penalty kicks after the two teams played 110 minutes of scoreless action.
The Titans will round out their home schedule with CSUN (Oct. 21) and will host UC Riverside (Oct. 24) at 7:00 p.m. for senior day to honor their five departing seniors.
Fullerton will travel to UC Irvine (Oct. 28) and UC Riverside (Oct. 31) to finish their 2015 regular-season schedule before the Big West Conference Tournament starts on Nov. 7. The tournament semifinals will take place on Nov. 11 and the championship game is scheduled for Nov. 14.
The NCAA Tournament will start with the first round on Nov. 19 and will continue on into the College Cup semifinals and the College Cup final on Dec. 11 and Dec. 13, respectively.
The Titans finished 2014 with a 10-8-6 overall record and posted their first winning campaign since 2001. The team tied for the Fullerton school record for most shutouts in a single season (9) and moved into first place all-time for most goals scored in one season (34). With 10 wins in his inaugural season, Kuntz posted the most wins in his first season as head coach of the Titans since Al Mistri won 13 games in 1981.
Ian Ramos and Marc Fenelus were named to the NSCAA All-Far West Region Second Team, and Fenelus went on to become the 31st Titan in the history of the program to play professional soccer, and the 19th to play in Major League Soccer. The Titans also feature three former standouts that signed professional contracts with teams in the United Soccer League over the offseason: Garrett Losee (Real Salt Lake Monarchs), Spencer Johnson (Arizona United) and Amara Soumah (Pittsburgh Riverhounds).
Notes: Including their first-two games of the year, the Titans will face six teams who finished last season in the top-60 of the national RPI standings…. Fullerton ended 2014 in the same category, posting a final RPI ranking of 59…. Julian Okai, Colin Okirie, Nigel Patterson, Dyllan Stevens and Jeff Salt will all be playing their final year in a Titan uniform.