MEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
CSUN DEFEATS UC IRVINE TO ADVANCE IN BIG WEST TOURNAMENT
No. 6 seed CSUN defeated third-seeded UC Irvine 3-2 in the first round of the Big West Men's Soccer Tournament Wednesday night.
Julio Rubio, Daniel Trejo and Khalid Hunter scored goals to give the Matadors their second victory over the Anteaters in less than a week. The three goals represented the most for CSUN since Sept. 27 at Omaha (a 2-1 OT win) and the Matadors advanced to the Big West Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2016.
UCI, which outshot CSUN 17-7 for the match, trailed 3-0 before making a late push. The Anteaters received goals from Christian Gutierrez and Jose Ortiz in the 82nd and 89th minutes, but could get no closer as Matador keeper Paul Lewis made four saves.
The sixth-seeded Matadors are next in action on Saturday when they travel to No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff inside Harder Stadium.
COMPLETE RECAP
BOX SCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
TITANS SHUTOUT CAL POLY TO ADVANCE TO BIG WEST TOURNAMENT SEMIS
After losing to Cal Poly in the regular season, Cal State Fullerton men's soccer got its revenge as they knocked the fourth-seeded Mustangs out of the postseason with a 2-0 victory Wednesday night at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
No. 5 seed Fullerton got off to what could have been a dangerously slow start as Cal Poly earned a penalty kick less than a minute into the game on a handball in the box. However, Diego Alonso of Cal Poly couldn't finish for the Mustangs under pressure as he shot the attempt wide.
Owen Lambe gave the Titans an early 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute of action, scoring on a perfectly executed counter-attack following a Cal Poly corner kick. For Lambe, it is his second goal of the season while Sebastian Cruz recorded his fourth assist of the year on the play.
Jessy Sotelo added to the Titans lead to 2-0 in the 63rd minute of action, scoring his third goal of the season. Oscar Flores recorded the assist on a beautiful pass for his sixth assist of the year. Flores now has 20 points in 19 games.
With the win the Titans are 9-2 on the road in the Big West Conference Tournament since 2014 under Head Coach George Kuntz.
Fullerton now travels to UC Davis for the Big West Tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon with kickoff at 2:00 p.m.
COMPLETE RECAP
BOX SCORE