NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton men's soccer team's Big West tournament run concluded on Saturday night as the Titans fell to CSUN, 2-1, in double overtime at Matador Soccer Field in the Big West Tournament final.
"First of all, I want to give credit to Cal State Northridge on scoring a late goal," coach George Kuntz said. "I'm really proud of our team because we overcame a lot of adversity and injuries this year. We were right there at the end and we had chances to finish this game. All I can say is that I'm really proud of our guys and all of their effort. Overall, it was an outstanding year because to get to the Big West tournament final is a huge feat for this team and we were excited to be here."
With the loss, Fullerton finishes the year with a record of 10-9-4 and snap its two-year streak of winning the conference tournament title. The 10-win season does give the Titans' their third-straight under coach Kuntz which marks the first time since 1991-2000 that CSUF has won 10 or more matches in three-straight years.
The Titans found themselves on their heels to start the match as CSUN (9-6-5) came out on the attack with a couple corners in the first few minutes.
However, just like the last match at UCSB, the Fullerton backline continued to hold strong and didn't surrender any good chances in the box. Goalkeeper David Elias was aggressive and went into the air to prevent any headers from going into the net.
The first half didn't feature much of an attack from the Titans as they controlled possession for a majority of the half. Robert Coronado had a steady diet of corners in the first 45 minutes as he took all five for Fullerton.
Ruben Alvarez and Michael Lopez both had the clearest chances as a corner clearance led to two long distance tries but each shot was blocked by a Matador defender.
Through the first 45 minutes, the Titans lead in shots (5-3) and corners (6-5), while CSUN's Kevin Marquez made the lone save of the half.
In the second, CSUN came out on the attack and had two pacey efforts at goal, but Titan goalkeeper Elias made a spectacular save to keep the match scoreless.
Minutes later, Fullerton drew a corner kick and Nicolo D'Amato placed a beautiful ball inside the box that found Alex Heilmann's head and the senior netted his 12th goal of the season to put the Titans up 1-0 in the 57th minute.
With all the momentum back with CSUF, CSUN kept the pressure on the Titan backline as they created numerous chances before they finally connected on one in the 78th minute.
Edwin Quiroz launched a rocket from the left of the box and somehow bent the ball right inside the right post to score the equalizer for the Matadors and tie the championship match at one with 12 minutes left.
"We have to have closer pressure to the ball and we knew he was left-footed so we needed to keep him on his right," Kuntz said. "And we didn't. He hit a great curling left-footed shot and it's a hard shot to stop, but we have to be closer to pressure and not allow a shot like that."
In the final moments, Ronaldo Pineda put up quite a pacey strike from 30-yards out but the sophomore's effort just sailed right over the top post. The Titans wouldn't get another chance in regulation and the Big West Men's Soccer tournament final was headed to overtime.
The Matadors kept the attack on Fullerton in overtime and the pressure finally paid off as a foul by Elias in the box granted CSUN a penalty kick with less than two minutes remaining.
Juan Samaoya lined up to take the penalty for CSUN and Elias knew right where the Matador was going and dove to his right to make the save and keep the Titans season alive. The amazing save was the senior's third penalty kick save of the year and eventually forced a second overtime period with both teams still tied at one.
"He's saved a bunch of those (penalty kicks) this year," coach Kuntz said. "We see him in training every day and we had confidence he could come up with a big one. You never know with PK's and you really got to give him credit today because he kept us in it and gave us a chance. In my opinion, he's the MVP of the league."
Pineda found some room inside the box to start the second overtime period, but the Titan couldn't separate himself as the CSUN defense collapsed on him and cleared the ball to end the threat.
Not much action followed Pineda's chance and it looked as if penalty kicks were going to decide the Big West tournament champion, but CSUN's Jere Degraffenreidt had different ideas.
The Matador followed a nice run by Shane Steffes, whose shot was blocked, and cleaned up the miss with a strike to the right post to give the Matadors a 2-1 win over Fullerton and CSUN its second Big West Tournament title.
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