FULLERTON, Calif. — California State University-Fullerton’s Dominic Hernandez scored seven times as the Titans turned back Mount St. Mary’s University, 18-9, at the Fullerton Aquatics Center.
The Titans never trailed in the game as Togan Ozbek and Hernandez buried shots at the 7;43 and 4:05 marks of the first quarter to stake Fullerton to an early 2-0 lead. Aaron Tarr responded for the Mountaineers at 3:36 via a man-up strike, but Hernandez closed and opened the first and second quarters with goals at 3:16 and 7:19, respectively, to build Fullerton’s lead to 4-1.
Back-to-back scores by Julian Nichols (5:47, 5:20) followed by Hernandez firing in his fourth goal of the game at 3:45 made it 7-1. Alexandros Bellesis snapped the Titans’ scoring torrent at 3:11 by drilling in the Mountaineers’ second man-up goal to move Mount St. Mary’s within 7-2, but Bradley Pearce spun home a shot with 2:51 left in the second quarter to provide Fullerton an 8-2 margin entering halftime.
Mount St. Mary’s attempted to reignite its offense in the third quarter as Chrysostomos Valavanis (6:41) and Bellesis (5:47, penalty shot) sandwiched Hernandez’s fifth goal (6:04) to chip the Mountaineers’ deficit down to 9-4. However, Nichols (5:37) and Hernandez (4:47) turned the tables on the Mount by bookending a man-up heave by Valavanis (5:06) to make it an 11-5 contest.
Alec Issacman (3:30), Jacob Hatch (1:57) and Reese Starkey (1:24) inflicted the remainder of the Titans’ damage in the third quarter, while Bellesis (1:31, penalty shot) and Kacper Cieplik (nine seconds) capped off Mount St. Mary’s scoring in the frame to allow Fullerton to enter the final eight minutes of regulation holding a 14-7 lead.
Aaron Ayala (7:38), Francisco Paredes (4:58), Zack Ewing (2:12) and Hernandez (1:51) delivered for the Titans, while Michael Lemishko (6:16, man-up) and Ayden Hess (1:15, penalty shot) dented the twine for the Mountaineers as Cal State Fullerton outscored Mount St. Mary’s by a 4-2 count in the fourth quarter to wrap-up a nine-goal victory.
The game was unique statistically as Mount St. Mary’s accounted for the majority of its scoring via man-up and penalty shots by converting four six-on-five chances and lining in three penalty shots.
Hernandez (seven goals) and Nichols (three goals) were the only Titans to post multi-goal games as Isaacman, Ewing, Ozbek, Hatch, Ayala, Pearce, Starkey and Paredes each contributed solo markers. Bende Aubeli (one), Isaccman (one), Ewing (one), Hernandez (one), Ozbeck (four), Hatch (three) and Tony Benedetti (three) added assists in support.
In goal, Garrett Henderson made 16 saves with eight goals allowed in 27:35. Cy Hammerstrom played 4:25 with one save and one goal allowed.
Across the tank, Bellesis (three), Valavanis (two), Lemishko (one), Cieplik (one), Hess and Tarr (one) put away goals, while Nicolas Wallace-Whitfield (one), Lemishko (one), Wes Reising (one), Zach Fischer (one), Bellesis (one) and Tarr (one) handed out helpers.
Sherif Hosni went from opening sprint-to-closing horn for the Mountaineers between the pipes with 12 saves.
