Tran Head Over Heels as Titans Win, 1-0

Mike Tran might not have been in the game if Peter Lak hadn’t been hurt, but Tran was the man of the moment in sudden-death overtime Sunday and Cal State Fullerton rolled into the quarterfinals of the NCAA soccer playoffs.

Tran, a junior reserve, executed an over-the-head scissor kick that Matt Bradbury headed into the goal, giving Fullerton a 1-0 victory over San Francisco in front of 2,651 in Titan Stadium.

“It was the kind of shot that you’d say you would give him a million bucks if he could do it again, and he never would,” Dons Coach Stephen Negoesco said. “But it was a good goal.”

Tran said it was all reaction. “It was just something that happened,” he said with a big smile. “You get lucky sometimes, and in that case I got very lucky.”

Tran has played sparingly this season primarily because of injuries, and Coach Al Mistri said Lak probably would have stayed in the game had he not been re-injured early in the first of the three overtime periods.

Tran’s kick surprised Bradbury as much as anyone. Bradbury said he had almost started running back on defense when he saw the kick come into the box. “It was an amazing play,” Bradbury said. “I just finished it.”

It was only the third goal the Dons (9-7-4) have allowed in eight games, but it left them stunned. “That goal is certainly one I’m going to see for a while,” San Francisco goalkeeper Scott Thompson said.

The goal left Fullerton (14-6-2) one victory away from a second consecutive appearance in college soccer’s final four.

The Titans will meet Indiana, a 1-0 winner over Creighton, in the quarterfinals next weekend. The site of that game will be determined Monday by the NCAA.

As dramatic as Fullerton’s winning goal was, the Titans almost were beaten earlier in sudden-death overtime when a shot by the Dons’ Chris McDonald hit the crossbar and fell straight down.

The two coaches agreed that McDonald erred by trying to drive the ball into the net. “He should have just touched it, and if he had done that, it would have been a goal because their goalkeeper had come out,” Negoesco said.

Mistri agreed: “Yeah, he cracked it, instead of pushing it.”

The Dons, drained by the disqualification of two starters in last week’s victory over Fresno State, played a conservative, defensive game throughout regulation play and mostly through the first two overtime periods.

Fullerton had 18 shots compared to nine for San Francisco.

Joey Franchino threatened on a driving kick from 30 yards, but Thompson stabbed the ball with a dive to his left.

Fullerton also dominated the first overtime, four shots to none, but failed to score. The best opportunity was late in the period when Brad Wilson missed from just outside the box and Bradbury’s rebound attempt was deflected.