Titans Upset No. 2 UCLA in Men’s Soccer

Cal State Fullerton fans couldn’t resist the rally cry--”three-peat” --after the Titans’ 2-1 men’s soccer victory over defending national champion UCLA Sunday in Titan Stadium.

It was Fullerton’s third consecutive upset of UCLA and it ended the second-ranked Bruins’ nine-game winning streak.

The victory left the Titans (9-3-1, 2-0) as the only unbeaten team in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UCLA drops to 10-2, 3-1.

“I don’t know what it is, but they seem to have a mental lock on our whole team,” said Seth George, UCLA’s leading scorer. “It’s tough to break it. They really come at you on defense.”

George, the offensive most valuable player at last year’s NCAA Final Four, was held scoreless.

George had a chance to tie the score with 22 minutes to play, but sophomore forward Duncan Oughton made a skidding save on a shot from close range. That helped first-half goals by Colby Jackson and Art Ramirez stand up for the victory in front of 3,079.

UCLA had given up only four goals in 11 earlier games and scored 33.

“Colby and I had goals, but that play by Duncan was total heart,” Ramirez said. “He’s a workhorse, and this was another example of that.”

Strong defensive play by sophomore Kris Hulgreen against George also was a key.

“You’ve got to be able to get into his head to stop him,” Hulgreen said. “I just tried to stay on him tight, and he tends to get frustrated when he’s not doing well, as most people do. But we really get up for UCLA as a team.”

The Titans took an early lead on Jackson’s left-footed, line-drive kick from the top of the box. UCLA came back to tie the score on a second-effort goal by Pete Vagenas in the 23rd minute. Titan goalkeeper Sean Rockwell blocked a shot by Shaun Tsakiris, but Vagenas punched it in.

What turned out to be the winning goal came on Ramirez’s header in the 33rd minute.

“Fullerton seems to have our number right now, and it’s a big psychological thing,” UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid said. “They used their chances well with two great goals. We thought the ball was out of bounds just before the second goal and we hesitated a bit. But we had our chances and didn’t capitalize on them.

“Oughton made a great play on that one shot, but George had a couple of shots from outside that he didn’t hit as well as he normally would.”

Titan Coach Al Mistri also said Oughton’s save kept the Titans in control in the second half.

“I thought it was huge,” Mistri said. “But their goalie [Nick Rimando] also had a big save in the second half that could have been a third goal for us. George is a remarkable player, but we know he prefers to go to his right, and we worked on that. Hulgreen did a great job on him.”

Fullerton defeated UCLA last year in the regular season and in the first round of the NCAA playoffs in 1996.