Oct. 16, 2010
Fullerton, Calif. - Kevin Venegas' free kick from about 30 yards deflected off a defender and found the net with 10:56 to play for the only goal of the night as Cal State Fullerton won a non-conference men's soccer match Saturday in an inaugural meeting with cross-street rival Hope International.
The Titans have won three in a row for the first time since opening the 2007 season with three wins and are now 5-6-2. The Royals, an NAIA institution, fell to 7-7.
Fullerton dominated the match, controlling the ball at least 80 percent of the time and outshooting the visitors, 22-4. But the Royals got a strong effort from goalkeeper Tyler Golden, who made 8 saves in his first start after regular goalkeeper Jakob Brown was lost for the season to a broken hand suffered Friday in practice.
The Royals also played most of the second half without co-goal scoring leader Edgar Bran, who suffered a leg injury.
Fullerton had 9 cornerkicks to one for the Royals as the visitors were content to play one man forward and nine in defense. Ritchie Gonzalez hit the left post for the Titans with 21:25 to play and Golden made three brilliant saves in the first half. He denied Nick Posthuma at point-blank range in the 17th minute and made back-to-back stops on Venegas and Mark Nelson on the rebound in the 35th minute.
Trevor Whiddon got the shutout for the Titans, his fourth of the year, with 3 saves. The toughest was a stop of Matthew Howard one-on-one from the left side 90 seconds before halftime.
Fullerton returns to Big West Conference play Wednesday night at home vs. UC Riverside, which it defeated, 2-1, a week ago.