Cal State Fullerton at Sacramento State
Thursday, Oct. 6 | 4 P.M. PT
Hornet Soccer Field | Sacramento, CA
Live Stats: hornetsports.com
Series: CSUF leads 5-2-0
Cal State Fullerton at UC Davis
Saturday, Oct. 8 | 1 P.M. PT
Aggie Soccer Field | Davis, CA
Live Stats: ucdavisaggies.com
Live Stream: ucdavisaggies.com
Series: CSUF leads 9-7-3
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Cal State Fullerton men's soccer squad heads up north for a pair of Big West matches this weekend as the Titans face Sacramento State on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT and UC Davis on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT.
RUNDOWN vs. SACRAMENTO STATE:
-After splitting the first two conference matches at home, the Titans head up north to take on Sacramento State on Thursday in their first Big West road match of the season. Fullerton is coming off a weekend in which they defeated Cal Poly on Friday, 2-1, but fell to UC Santa Barbara in overtime, 2-1 on Saturday. Sacramento State also split its first two Big West matches by first beating UC Irvine on the road, 2-1, before falling to CSUN, 1-0.
-This will be the eighth meeting in program history between both schools as Fullerton won the first four contests and took the last match in 2015. Titan Diego Sanchez served as playmaker by assisting on goals from Zach Bryan and Ronaldo Pineda to give Fullerton the 2-0 home win. However, Sacramento State did win the last match played at Hornet Soccer Field back in 2014, 1-0.
-Sacramento State has been on a bit of a roll as the Hornets were unbeaten in their previous five matches prior to losing to CSUN on Saturday.
RUNDOWN vs. UC DAVIS:
-On Saturday, Fullerton travels to Davis, California, for an afternoon battle with UC Davis at Aggie Soccer Field. The match will be the 12th time in program history that the Titans have played the Aggies in Davis. CSUF has been up-and-down when playing in the northern California area as earlier this season they defeated San Francisco and lost to St. Mary's.
-Overall, Fullerton leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-7-3, but UC Davis has gotten the better of the Titans at Aggie Soccer Field as they hold a 5-4-2 record against CSUF at home. The last time the Titans won at Aggie Soccer Field was in the first round of the Big West Tournament in 2014. Fullerton began its title run against the Aggies in Davis and went on to defeat them with two goals in the final five minutes of the match. Nigel Patterson would net the winner for Fullerton in final 10 seconds of regulation.
-UC Davis enter's Saturday's match in good form as the Aggies have won four of their last six with wins over St. Mary's, Portland and UC Irvine.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
-CSUF's Rei Dorwart (F, Fr.): True freshman Rei Dorwart has given the Titan attack a spark as he created numerous chances for Fullerton last weekend including one that led to a Ross McPhie equalizer that tied the UCSB match at one before half.
CSUF's Nicolo D'Amato (M, Sr.): In last Friday's win over Cal Poly, D'Amato put on a show as he placed a beautiful corner kick into the box that led to a Heilmann header and netted his second goal of the year off a free kick from about 20-yards out.
CHASING HISTORY!
After 12 clean sheets last season (program-record), David Elias sits just five shutouts away from the Fullerton career shutouts record, which is 19 by Mike Ammann from 1991-93. The senior leader on this year's Titan squad came close to adding another shutout to his resume but a late goal by Cal Poly in Friday's match ended the potential shutout bid. For the remainder of the regular season, Elias will have nine more games to try and add to his career shutouts. In 2015, the Huntington Beach native recorded eight shutouts in eight of 12 Big West matches for the Titans including a shutout at UC Santa Barbara where Elias led Fullerton to its second-straight conference tournament title. The senior's most impressive stretch last season came from Sept. 20-Oct. 17 where he recorded a shutout in seven of nine matches and had a period of four-straight clean sheets. As the conference season carries on, Elias will continue to find a rhythm in the net and hopefully play a big part in the Titans' journey to winning the Big West Tournament Championship for a third consecutive season.
MAKING SHOTS COUNT
When it comes to putting shots on goal, the Titans do that pretty well as nine players have a shot on goal percentage of .500 or higher. Nationally, Fullerton ranked 46th in the country in averaging 6.18 shots on goal per game which means at least half of the Titans' shots in a match are on goal as they averaging a little over 12 shots per game. Alex Heilmann has been a marksman in the box as the forward has seven goals on just 13 shots and nine shots on goal overall to give himself a shot on goal percentage of .692. Defenders Mitchell Bell and Corentin Ohlmann have both been just as effective as Heilmann as each one of their shots has been on goal as well. However, Ronaldo Pineda carries the biggest sample size for Fullerton as the junior has 20 shots of the year with 12 of them being on goal to collect a .600 shot on goal percentage, which has led to two goals for the midfielder. Robert Coronado is the only other Titan with double-digit shots on goal as he sits at 11. With all the chances on goal the Titans keep creating look for the goals number to increase mightily over the next couple of weeks.
CLOSING IN ON 350
Fullerton men's soccer coach George Kuntz continues to add to his stellar coaching legacy this season as he currently sits at 347 career victories which puts him only three wins away from reaching 350. With nine regular season matches left (all against Big West opponents), Kuntz could collect his 350th career win and 75th Big West victory at the same time as he also sits at 72 career wins which gives him the third most in conference history. Currently, Kuntz has a steady lead when it comes to all-time career victories as the Titan head coach leads UC Santa Barbara's Tim Vom Steeg by 110 wins. Coach Kuntz has also been outstanding when tournament times come around as he has a 13-1 career record in the Big West Tournament and is currently undefeated in the conference tournament (5-0) since taking the helm at Fullerton back in 2014. So with conference play in full swing make sure to keep an eye on coach Kuntz' milestone of 350 career victories and 75 Big West wins.
STARTING STRONG
The 2016 season has been up-and-down so far for the Titans as they've battled to get over the .500 mark, but that has been one consistency so far this year and that is winning when they score the opening strike. When scoring first in a match this season, Fullerton is currently undefeated at 3-0-0. Also, the Titans are undefeated (2-0-0) when scoring three or more goals and leading at halftime. Both of those situations have been key to Fullerton's victories. However, when opponents strike first in the match the Titans have a hard time bouncing back as all six of their losses this year have came as a result of the opponents scoring first.
FRIDAYS AT FULLERTON
With the start of the 2016-17 athletic season, CSUF introduces Fridays at Fullerton which is a membership club designed to enhance the Titan game day experience. The membership will feature a beer/wine hospitality area at every Friday home competition for all sports. Those interested in joining the club can visit www.fullertontitans.com/donate/Fridays_at_Fullerton for more information.
LOOK GOOD, PLAY GOOD!
Titan Stadium received some upgrades this summer as the 24-year-old venue got a well-deserved facelift. The upgrade includes nine large-formate vinyl graphic, two large-format banners encased in an aluminum frame, dimensional LED signage on the back side of the press box, paint on the field-level bowl, repair and paint of existing handrails and 1400 feet of wide screen to enclose the venue. "Over the last two years, we have continually made upgrades to Titan Stadium, which we believe will make our venue an attractive destination for future Titans as our men's and women's soccer programs build upon their recent success and conference championships," Fullerton Director of Athletics Jim Donavan said.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Make sure to follow @CSUFMensSoccer on Twitter and like the Cal State Fullerton Men's Soccer page on Facebook to keep up with the Titans. Also, make sure to give a follow to @FullertonTitans on Twitter and Snapchat.