FULLERTON, Calif. -- Sophomore Bryan Gutierrez looped a header home off a free kick by Genaro Alfaro with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation on a rainy Saturday night in Orange County, lifting the Sacramento State men's soccer team to a much-needed 1-0 victory over Cal State Fullerton at Titan Stadium.
The Hornets, who won their third consecutive contest after dropping four straight, improved to 9-6-2 overall and evened their Big West Conference record at 4-4, picking up three points in the standings in the race for one of six league tournament berths. Now with 12 points on the year, Sacramento State is tied for fourth along with UC Irvine, the Titans, and UC San Diego following the night's action, with only one regular season contest remaining against UC Davis at home on Oct. 29 at 3 p.m.
All told, the nine victories this season are the most since the 2016 squad finished 9-8-3 overall, while the four conference victories are the most since the 2017 team ended the year 4-4-2 in league play. One more triumph this season would give the Hornets double-digit wins for the first time since winning 11 matches in 2010.
Cal State Fullerton, which entered the night unbeaten at home this year, fell to 8-5-5 overall and 3-2-3 in league play.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Edgar Guerra was stellar in net, finishing with a career-high nine saves on the night and posting his second straight shutout en route to his third consecutive win in net. Guerra, who is now 6-1-1 on the season between the pipes, has surrendered only one goal over his last 270 minutes and faced 49 total shots in that span — 30 of those coming off the feet of Titan players on Saturday.
Seven of Guerra's nine stops came in the second half as both teams ramped up the pressure after playing to a scoreless draw over the first 45 minutes. Guerra denied Julian Varela in the 49th minute, then made three saves over a two-and-a-half minute span from the 60th to the 62nd minutes to keep the match scoreless. He then made two more just 39 seconds apart with six minutes to play, turning the Titans away just before the Hornets came through with the winner.
Francisco Magana drew a foul about 25 yards away from the goal at the left corner of the penalty area, setting up Alfaro on a free kick with less than 30 seconds to play. Alfaro then curled his free kick to the back post at the top of the six-yard box where Gutierrez out-jumped his defender and looped a header over the Fullerton goalkeeper back toward the vacant left post and it bounced in untouched for the only score of the contest.
The goal was Gutierrez's first of his career on his seventh career shot attempt, while Alfaro netted his third assist of the season.
Sacramento State's defense, meanwhile, allowed only nine of the Titans' 30 shot attempts to reach the goal, but Guerra stood tall, collecting the most saves in a single match by a Hornet goalkeeper since
Ryan Curtis finished with 10 stops in a 2-0 win over San Jose State to open the 2019 campaign.
Sophomore
Dominic Vegaalban finished with three of Sacramento State's shot attempts on the night.
