FULLERTON, Calif. – After capturing their third Big West Conference Championship in four years in 2017, the Titans begin the 2018 campaign with an exhibition match Monday at 7 p.m. at Titan Stadium against the Cal Golden Bears.
This is the second consecutive year that the Titans and Golden Bears will meet in a preseason friendly at Titan Stadium. In 2017 Cal went 11-7 and 6-4 in the PAC-12 while making a trip to the NCAA Tournament where they lost to San Francisco in the first round.
The Titans saw the exit of three key seniors from last year squad including co-captain Corentin Ohlmann who was named to the All-Big West Conference First Team. Fullerton will also have to fill the whole Diego Sanchez leaves in the midfield after a successful four seasons. Sanchez, a second team All-Big West honoree, led the team with five assists last season while scoring two goals.
Head Coach George Kuntz will also have to fill the void in the midfield without co-captain Nicolo D'Amato who won three Big West Championships in four seasons alongside Sanchez.
Although the Titans lost three key pieces from last year's team, they do welcome the No. 34 ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to Top Drawer Soccer. Along with a highly ranked recruiting class, Fullerton welcomes back an abundance of talent and experience including its two top point-getters in Samuel Goni who led the team with nine goals and 19 points and Ross Mcphie who was second on the team with 17 points on seven goals and three assists.
Fullerton also looks forward to the return of midfielder Robert Coronado who missed all of the 2017 season with an injury. Coronado led the team in assists in 2016 with six, giving him 12 for his career which is just three assists shy of being tied eighth all-time in the history of the program.
Irving Arvizu returns for his sophomore season after being named to the All-Big West Freshman Team last year. Arvizu joins Michael Lopez and Sam Molz on a backline that gave up the second fewest goals in the Big West in 2017.
Big West Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player, Paul-Andre Guerin looks to keep up his MVP form in net this season after recording the fewest goals allowed average in the conference at 1.18. Goalkeeper Alfredo Cortez also returns after securing the game-winning save in penalty kicks in the conference championship match last year.
After reporting to training on Friday, Fullerton looks to use the preseason friendly against Cal on Monday to get into form before officially kicking off the season Aug. 27 on the road against Missouri State.
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