FULLERTON, Calif. — Freshman Jonathan Dadzie scored his first career goal off a corner by teammate Leonardo Martinez in the 81st minute, but it wasn't enough to dig Sacramento State out of an early hole as host Cal State Fullerton posted a 3-1 victory over the Hornets on Wednesday night at Titan Stadium.
The loss put an end to a brief two-match winning streak for Sacramento State, which fell to 6-8-2 overall and 3-4 in Big West Conference play. The Titans improved to 7-5-5 overall and 3-2-2 in league play with the win.
Martinez's corner was perfectly placed, finding Dadzie's head at the top of the six-yard box on the right side. The Sacramento native then powered it home, heading it back to the left post and in to break up the Fullerton shutout bid.
The Titans opened the night with the first four shot attempts of the night, forcing keeper
Mac Learned into a pair of saves before leading scorer
Donovan Sessoms was able to get off the Hornets first shot of the night in the 18th minute.
Cal State Fullerton then took a lead it would not relinquish midway through the opening half, scoring twice within a two-minute span for a 2-0 lead. Erick Serrano had the first in the 22nd minute, followed closely by Roberto Ordonez's score in the 24th.
Sessoms had second attempt in the opening 45 minutes to put the Hornets on the board, trying to squeak an attempt past the Fullerton keeper at the right post in the 32nd minute only to be denied.
After the break, the Titans extended their lead to three goals in the 51st minute as a foul in the box gave the home side a penalty after review. Sulaiman Bah's attempt was initially saved by Learned with a diving stop to his right, but the rebound spun back to Bah, who pushed the shot through the fingertips of Learned on the ground for the score.
Freshman
Sean Battistessa, who shared match honors with four shot attempts on the night, had two solid chances midway through the second as his first header was punched over the bar by the Fullerton keeper and a second two minutes later just sailed high to the left.
Hasan Alsakati forced a save in the 67th minute and Martinez and Battistessa also had attempts turned away just before the Hornets' goal.
Learned finished with five saves in 71 minutes of action before giving way to
Lucas Bost, who stopped a pair of shots in his 19 minutes of action, including a diving stop on a left-footed attempt in the 76th minute.
Sacramento State remains in Southern California and will face UC Irvine on Saturday (Oct. 26) at 6 p.m. at Anteater Stadium in the team's final road match of the regular season.
