Hat Trick by Whitfield Carries Titans to Win Nov. 4, 2003 - Fullerton, Calif.
Box Score Senior Brent Whitfield scored three goals
as Cal State Fullerton continued its late season surge Tuesday night with
a 3-1 non-conference men’s soccer victory over Fresno State.
Fullerton is 3-0-1 in its last four matches and has evened its record
at 8-8-2. The Bulldogs fell to 5-11.
Whitfield scored twice in less than four minutes just before the end of
the first half. At 37:46 he took a pass from Samuel Rivas on the right
side and angled it toward the goal. It grazed a Fresno State defender
and redirected beyond the reach of goalkeeper Eric Kronberg. At 41:20,
Whitfield was set up in front of an open net after touch passes from Rivas
and Hector Orellana.
In between those scores, the Bulldogs’ Jeremiah LeRoy hit the crossbar
with a penalty kick. Fresno State did get a goal about 13 minutes into
the second half when Corey Sipos kicked a rebound inside the left post.
But Whitfield countered that score at 75:39 when he took a through pass
from Ignacio Cid and beat Kronberg to the right side. Whitfield leads
the team iwith 9 goals this season.
Sam Reynolds had 2 saves in the first half before giving way to freshman
Matt Cowan, who minded the net in the second half for Fullerton, which
outshot the visitors, 16-8.
Fullerton has two matches remaining — at UC Santa Barbara on Nov.
12 and vs. Cal State Northridge on Nov. 15 — and could be in line
for an at-large NCAA playoff berth given the strength of the season’s
schedule.
