Cal State Fullerton hosts UC Riverside in Big West conference South Division action tomorrow night in Titan Stadium. The goal is to get back on the winning track after dropping a tough match at Northridge on Wednesday in overtime. (It was the second consecutive OT match for both squads.)
Kickoff: Cal State Fullerton (6-7-1, 3-2-1) hosts UC Riverside (6-6-3, 1-4-1) on Saturday evening event at 7 p.m.
Watch it Live: There will be live video coverage available for Cal State Fullerton's games. To access video for the games visit www.fullertontitans.com, click the men's soccer schedule page then click the "video" link.
Listen Live: There will be live audio coverage available for Cal State Fullerton's games. To access audio for the games visit www.fullertontitans.com, click the men's soccer schedule page then click the "audio" link.
Live Stats: There will be live stats available for Cal State Fullerton's games. To access stats for the games visit www.fullertontitans.com, click the men's soccer schedule page then click the "live stats" link.
Follow the Titans, Socially: Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/CSUF.Athletics),Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and YouTube.com (YouTube.com/csfathletics). In addition, the men's soccer team has established its own official Facebook (Facebook.com/csufmenssoccer) and Twitter page (@CSUFMensSoccer).
Shoots and Gathers: Offensively, the Titans are lead by Ian Ramos whose three goals and two assists tally eight points. Garrett Losee, whose offensive output has picked up considerably during conference play, has three goals and an assist for seven points. Marc Fenelus and Amara Soumah each have six points on the season, Fenelus with a pair of goals and assists each and Soumah preferring the back of the net, has three goals. Jaime Cano, Spencer Johnson and Colin Okirie each have four points on the season. In other words, the Titans spread the ball around offensively and enjoy sharing in the scoring, as several of the key defensive players have contributed as well.
As for the gathering, the goalkeeper duo of Bryan Escalante and Robbie Hannon have combined for four shut outs on the season, Escalante with three. Numerically speaking, Escalante now sports a 1.41 goals-against average, while Hannon's is 1.60. Escalante has seen the yeoman's portion of the work, having protected the net in 1,081 minutes to Hannon's 225. (Whew, tired just typing that.)
Last time out: Amara Soumah scored, but it wasn't enough as No. 5 Cal State Northridge beat the Titans, 2-1, in over time to claim the lead in the South Division of the Big West. The win moves the Matadors to 12-2-1, 4-1-1, while Fullerton falls to 6-7-1, 3-2-1 on the season.
Beto Velasquez scored in the 51st minute off passes from Brian Behrad and Sagi Lev-Ari as his shot glanced off the crossbar and into the net on the left side.
Soumah's shot came just over eight minutes later as he received a pass from Dyllan Stevens and Ian Ramos and drove a shot from the top left of the box and found the low back corner and the teams played to a regulation draw. After late-night video review, both Stevens and Ramos were credited with assists on the play and the updated statistics reflect this correction.
Cal State Fullerton vs. UC Riverside in History
- Overall Record - 15-8-4
- Home Record - 7-5-1
- Away Record - 6-3-3
- Neutral Site Record - 0-0
- Longest Win Streak - 4
- Longest Losing Streak - 3
- Current Streak - W 2
- Record in Last 10 Meetings - 6-1-3
First Meeting: Oct. 1, 1975 at Fullerton, Calif. (W, 5-1)
Last Meeting: Nov. 3, 2012 at Fullerton, Calif. (W, 2-1)
Highlander Notes:
The Highlanders lost to UC Irvine, 2-0, on Saturday. Mitchell Alvarez got the Anteaters on the board in the sixth minute of play after collecting a UC Riverside turnover in the Highlanders box and beating keeper KC John to put UC Irvine up, 1-0.
It remained a one-goal match untll the 86th minute when the Highlanders committed a foul in their box, and Christopher Santana converted on the subsequent penalty kick to make it 2-0 Anteaters.
A double OT draw with Cal State Northridge on October 19 has to rank as the highlight for the squad thus far in 2013. Romario Lomeli leads the team in points with seven (three goals and an assist). Ashkan Khosravi, with fourstarts in goal, boasts a 0.95 goals against average, but does not meet the minimum qualifications torank among Big West leaders. He earned national defensive player of the week honors for his performance in the match with the Matadors.
UC Riverside interim head coach, Tim Cuppelo was named to the postion in July following the departureof Junior Gonzalez.