SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton men's soccer squad finished its regular season in excellent form as the Titans defeated the University of San Diego, 3-1, at Torero Stadium on Wednesday night.
"Our team displayed character tonight playing a USD team that is well-coached and a storied program," coach George Kuntz said. "I felt we could have opened it up tonight as we had some really good chances. Offensively, our group played to the plan. Defensively, we were pretty solid and had the opportunity to play many guys. It was great to see two freshman (Rei and Oscar) get goals and Alex Heilmann get his 11th. Overall, it was a great team effort, but we need to put that behind us and get back to work."
With the victory, the Titans finish the regular season at 9-8-3 which is the first time that Fullerton has finished the year with a record .500 better in three consecutive season since 1998-2000.
The Titans found themselves on their heels to begin the match as San Diego (5-8-3) had a couple chances in the first six minutes, but couldn't capitalize. David Elias made a nice sliding save to prevent Miguel Berry's strike from going into the net to keep the match scoreless in the sixth minute.
Alex Heilmann got the attack started for Fullerton as he launched the first shot of the night but his effort sailed high in the seventh minute.
Two minutes later, a beautiful sequence of passing from Rei Dorwart and Heilmann led to a give and go between the two Titans. Dorwart took Heilmann's pass, found some room behind the San Diego backline and put a strike inside the left post to net the first goal of his Titan career and give Fullerton a 1-0 advantage.
With the early edge, the Titans sat back and defended well as the Toreros couldn't find much in the attacking half.
In the 24th minute, Oscar Flores intercepted a pass five yards from the top of the San Diego box and launched a laser from 20-yards and found the back of the net to put the Titans up 2-0. The goal was the first of the year for Flores and gave Fullerton some breathing room to close out the half.
The Toreros outshot the Titans in the first 45 minutes (5-3) and drew one more corner (2-1), but Fullerton put two of its three shots on goal to gain a 2-0 advantage heading into the break.
Eight minutes into the second half, Alex Toderica almost gave Fullerton a 3-0 lead with a shot on goal but San Diego's Connor Hountalas made a nice save to keep the advantage at 2-0.
However, Heilmann put himself alone atop the Big West in goals scored as the senior took a pass from Ronaldo Pineda and kicked the ball right into the net to give the Titans a 3-0 lead in the 81st minute. The forward's goal was his 11th of the season while Pineda collected his second assist of the year.
"It was a great win for us leading into the conference tournament," Heilmann said. "It was nice to see a lot of guys contributing to tonight's win and seeing that the level does not drop off no matter who plays. We played as a team tonight and we will continue to keep it going on Saturday."
With the Fullerton win all but in hand, the Toreros ended the shutout in the 89th minute with a goal from Djordje Babic to put the final score at 3-1.
The Titans were outshot by San Diego (14-7), but Elias was brilliant in goal as he made a season-high eight saves (seven in the second half) to give himself 15 saves in the last two contests.
Up next for Fullerton is the Big West Men's Soccer Tournament on Saturday night at Titan Stadium as the Titans battle UC Davis at 7 p.m. PT in the first round.
For more information on the CSUF men's soccer squad, follow us on Twitter (@CSUFMensSoccer) and like our Facebook page (Cal St. Fullerton Men's Soccer).
Tickets to Saturday's first round match at Titan Stadium can be purchased here.