Jim Denk headed in the winning goal off a long free kick by Bret McNabb
with 9:38 to play Sunday night to give Oakland University a 2-1 men’s
soccer victory at Cal State Fullerton.
The win gave the Golden Grizzlies a share of second place in the Season
Opening Tournament at 1-1. They tied with UC Riverside, which lost to
champion UCLA, 1-0, earlier Sunday in Westwood.
Cal State Fullerton finished fourth in its own tourney as it opens the
season 0-2 for the first time since 1991.
The Titans had tied the match at 1-1 when Taylor Sheldrick scored his
second goal of the season with about 27 minutes to play. Jani Valtonen
set him up with a short cross to the left wing. Oakland had taken a 1-0
lead in the first half when Chris Edwards converted a couple of crisp
passes from Danny Ng and Shahar Ktovim.
The match was delayed about an hour due to a miscommunication with the
referees about the game time, moved up to allow Oakland to catch a late
Sunday night flight home to Michigan. Five minutes was shaved off each
half plus intermission to accommodate Oakland’s rush to the airport.
UCLA swept the individual tournament awards. Kamani Hill,
who scored the only goal in the UCLA-UCR game Sunday, was named Outstanding
Offensive Player and teammate Jordan Harvey won the Outstanding Defensive
Player Award.
Fullerton plays next weekend at a tournament in South Bend, Indiana. The
Titans will face defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Indiana
and the No. 9-ranked Fighting Irish.
