FULLERTON, Calif. — Cal State women's water polo defeated Chapman, 12-8, Saturday afternoon in its inaugural home game at Titan Aquatics Center. Fullerton is now 4-4 on the season.
"I would like to thank the Titan family for showing up, being loud and supporting our team in our first ever home game," said Head Coach Kyle Witt. "After an expected emotional start we settle in and took over in the third quarter. I'm really proud of how we played on the defensive side of the ball. I'm proud of this team and their continued development."
Teams traded goals to start the game, with a pair of scores from Kieran Scout Bates tying things up at three at the end of the first period. Delaney Wilder found Mia Solorzano for a goal midway through the second period, before a score from Chapman tied the game back up at four apiece. Gabrielle Zaretskiy fired a shot into the back of the net just before halftime on a power play to give the Titans a 5-4 advantage at the break.
Fullerton got out to a quick start in the second half, with another goal from Zaretskiy and a pair from Wilder putting Fullerton up 8-4 halfway through the third period. Solorzano added a goal before Wilder powered home her third of the period, capping a 6-0 Titan run to give the Titans a 10-4 lead.
In the final period, Chapman fought back to cut its deficit to four, 11-7. But Solorzano took advantage of a pair of penalty shot attempts to score her third and fourth goals of the game and put Fullerton back up five, 12-7. Chapman added a goal with 10 seconds left but the Titans came away with the 12-8 home win.
Solorzano led the Titans with four goals on seven attempts while Wilder added three scores on five shot attempts to go with an assist. Haden Skye Bates recorded six saves in goal to earn her fourth win of the year. With the win, Witt earns his 250th Division I victory.
The Titans are back in action Saturday, February 18th, for a double-header at the University of Redlands. Fullerton will take on Redlands at 9:00 a.m. PT before facing Concordia at 12:00 p.m. PT.
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).
