FULLERTON, Calif. – The Titans continued their hot play on the pitch Saturday night as Alex Heilmann's goal in the 14th minute proved to be the winner in Fullerton's 1-0 road win over division foe UC Riverside at UC Riverside Soccer Stadium.
"I'm proud of the progress our team has made in the past few weeks," coach George Kuntz said. "Our team displayed grit, poise, calm under pressure, defensive composure and execution by Alex Heilmann. Overall, a pretty complete game and we are creating good chances and we will continue to pursue getting better."
With the victory, CSUF (8-8-1, 4-3-1) has now won three-straight conference matches and trails CSUN by a single point for the South Division crown. The Titans will matchup with the Matadors at Titan Stadium on Wednesday night in their final home match of the regular season.
After a slow start that only featured three foul calls between both sides, the Titans got something cooking in the attacking half in the 14th minute.
Ross McPhie found some space in the attacking third and dumped a pass off to Alex Heilmann who continued his incredible senior year by netting his 10th goal of the season with a strike to the far post from 10-yards out.
The La Habra native has scored three times in his past four matches and remains the top goal-scorer in the Big West conference.
Five minutes later, McPhie found himself a hole in the UC Riverside defense again and put a strong effort up but his shot sailed high to end the Fullerton threat.
CSUF's Michael Lopez marched up the pitch at the 29-minute mark as the defender put a strong chance on goal but UCR goalkeeper Vincent Morales made the save to keep the score at 1-0, Titans.
To end the first 45 minutes, Ronaldo Pineda had a couple shots that were just off target as one sailed high and the other was blocked by a Highlander defender. The Titans led both the shots (5-2) and corners (3-1) categories at half.
In the second, Heilmann continued to lead the way for the Titan attack as he had a few more shots but none found their way into the net.
After having possession for most of the second half, Fullerton found itself in some trouble in the 77th minute as Raul Guerrero put a shot on target for the Highlanders but David Elias made the crucial save to keep the Titans lead intact.
UC Riverside had a few more chances in the final minutes but those efforts were blocked and the Titans went on to sweep the season series against the Highlanders with a 1-0 road victory.
"It was a hard fought battle for both teams and I'm just proud of the whole team for digging deep the whole 90 minutes and keeping the shutout and working hard tonight," Heilmann said. "It was a much needed win and now we just need to keep it rolling."
Up next for Fullerton is a battle with CSUN on Wednesday night in the Titans final regular season match at Titan Stadium. The match will begin at 7 p.m. PT, but fans are encouraged to come early to honor the seniors of this year's squad.
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