LA JOLLA, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's water polo fell to No. 20 Navy and No. 3 UCLA on opening day Saturday at the Triton Invitational. It was the men's water polo program's first games back in the pool since the sport was dropped in 1985.
Navy 13, Cal State Fullerton 8
The United States Naval Academy jumped out to a 1-0 lead two minutes in before Bende Aubeli scored the equalizer. Aubeli scored the first goal in the program's reinstatement.
Fullerton played Navy tough in the first quarter, keeping the game tied at 1-1. After Navy took a 3-1 lead in the second quarter, Julian Nichols turned the momentum for Fullerton with a goal at the 6:08 mark.
The Titans trailed by just two goals, 5-3, at halftime against the No. 20 ranked team in the country.
Fullerton looked for a quick strike in the second half and got just that from Aubeli 35 seconds in to cut the Titans deficit to 5-4. Navy, however, went on to score three unanswered goals in the third quarter to extend its lead to 8-4.
Togan Ozbek and Francisco Paredes scored goals for the Titans in the fourth quarter but Fullerton was unable to close in on the Midshipmen.
UCLA 18, Cal State Fullerton 6
The Titans battled start to finish against the No. 3 team in the country but ultimately came up short.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first quarter, the Titans scored two goals by Zach Ewing and Togan Ozbek to tie the game at 2-2.
UCLA was able to pull away from that point forward to defeat the Titans 18-6.
Fullerton is back in the pool Sunday to take on Pomona-Pitzer at 9:15 a.m. and No. 1 Cal at 3:45 p.m.
WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
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Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the water polo teams have established their own Twitter (@Fullerton_WP) and Instagram accounts (@Fullerton_WP).