FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton's men's soccer squad dropped its first conference match of the season on Saturday night as UC Santa Barbara defeated the Titans in overtime, 2-1, at Titan Stadium.
"Our team battled, but the expectation is high at this program, obviously we didn't execute in two critical moments and those are disappointing for me because these guys are better than that," coach George Kuntz said. "We had a couple of errors in judgement and that cost us. You can't do that against a good team and they're a good team."
With the loss, Fullerton falls to 1-1-0 in Big West play this season and 5-6-0 overall on the year.
The Titans came out strong to begin the match with a couple shots, but UCSB would strike first as a miscue from the Fullerton backline led to a one-on-one opportunity for Gaucho Noah Billingsley and Titan goalkeeper David Elias.
Billingsley made a slight hesitation to his left and that forced Elias to commit and the UCSB forward struck the ball into the bottom right to give the Gauchos a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.
Even with the tough break, the Titans had a ton of time to get themselves back in the match. A couple strong chances couldn't find the net, but persistence paid off in the 27th minute.
Streaking on the right side of the pitch, Fullerton forward Rei Dorwart created some space and made a beautiful cross into the box as he approached the corner.
Once the ball bounced into the box, Titan midfielder Ross McPhie put a strong touch on it and the shot went right underneath the goalkeeper to get Fullerton its equalizer before halftime.
"It was huge for us," coach Kuntz said. "It was a quality goal, and from a morale standpoint the guys' attitude at halftime was great."
The goal was McPhie's second of the year and crucial to swinging the momentum back in the Titans favor.
In the second, a little more space opened up in the attacking half for Fullerton which led to more corners and opportunities for the Titans.
Unfortunately, both teams locked themselves in defensively as even with more space the backlines for both the Gauchos and Titans were shutting down every attack.
In the final minutes of regulation, Alex Heilmann intercepted the ball away from a UCSB defender and laid a pass right into the box for McPhie but the shot would be blocked, leading to overtime.
Two minutes into the extra period, UCSB put the pressure on the Titans as they were on the defense early in overtime. A throw-in from Andy Perez found its way into the box and Josue Espana passed it to Kevin Feucht, the Gauchos top goal scorer, and that would do it.
Feucht placed his shot inside the left post and it went through as UCSB defeated Fullerton at Titans Stadium, 2-1.
"I don't think the team has stopped believing, the team knows that we have the qualities to keep pursuing this and I think it's going to be a rock and roll league," coach Kuntz said. "Every week is going to be a different outcome, we just hope that we get more outcomes to get us to where we want to go at the end."
With two matches gone in conference play, the Titans now hit the road for a three-game road trip that begins with Sacramento State on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.
For more information on the Fullerton soccer squad, follow @CSUFMensSoccer on Twitter and like Cal St. Fullerton Men's Soccer on Facebook.