Ramos Strikes Late to Lift Titans Past HIU

Above: Hope International of Fullerton Goalie Tyler Golden takes a deserved break on a hot evening at Fullerton's Titan Stadium. Golden had five saves against Cross-Nutwood Ave. rivals Cal State Fullerton but the Titans scored late to win 1-0.

Freshman Ian Ramos scored his first career goal in the 78th minute off a short pass from teammate Jesse Escalante while senior Trevor Whiddon and the rest of the Fullerton defense held Hope International of Fullerton to just three total shots on the night as the Titans defeated the Royals, 1-0, on Friday at Titan Stadium.

Ramos' strike came midway through the second half as Escalante punched a short ball over the head of a Royals defender to Ramos on the right side, who settled the ball and drilled a strike to the left side past a diving Tyler Golden for the only goal of the match.

Fullerton (1-0) outshot its cross-Nutwood NAIA neighbor by a 22-3 count -- including a 16-2 advantage in the second half after both sides played one another tough through the first 45 minutes. Hope had the first real scoring chance with 20 minutes to play in the first as Matthew Howard played a short ball to teammate Edward Vera, but Whiddon made a diving stop from just inside the penalty area to keep the match scoreless.

Jonathan Birt had a header miss just wide off a corner in the first and Oscar Aguero had one go wide and another stopped by Golden late in the first period to preserve the tie. Golden finished with five saves on the night for Hope International.

The second half saw Fullerton take 12 of the first 13 shots in the half before Ramos' goal, four of those saved by Golden, and Kevin Venegas almost made it a two-goal match just 30 seconds after Ramos' goal as his shot from 30 yards out clanged off the crossbar.

Cal State Fullerton returns to the field on Labor Day weekend as one of four teams in a tournament at Cal State Northridge. The Titans open play against defending NCAA National Champion Akron on Thursday (Sept. 1) at 4:30 p.m. before taking on UNLV on Saturday (Sept. 3) at 4:30 p.m.