Air Force Soccer: Red card proves costly for Falcons

Air Force failed to capitalize on numerous scoring chances Friday and a costly red card forced the Falcons to play the second half shorthanded as Cal State Fullerton won 2-0 at Cadet Soccer Stadium.

"We had plenty of chances to score, but we need to work on our preciseness inside the 18-yard mark," coach Doug Hill said. "Being a man down also didn't help in the second half."

The Titans (2-3) opened the scoring when Shay Spitz took a shot from 22 yards. The ball floated through a mass of bodies in the box and deflected off a Falcon defender before hitting the back of the net.

"I definitely didn't think I was going to score on that shot, but I'll take it," Spitz said. "I just wanted someone to get a touch on it."

Air Force co-captain Kevin Rosser was ejected from the game just before that goal in the 44th minute when he got his second yellow card, causing the Falcons (0-4) to play the second half a man down.

"The red card took the wind out of our sails a little bit," Hill said. "You never want to give up a goal in the last minute of a half and the red card made it worse."

The Titans scored again at 60:19 when Kevin Venegas ricocheted a shot off the crossbar into the net off an assist from Jose Gomez.

"Our game plan in the second half was to open the field up because they were a man down," Titans coach Bob Ammann. "We're not used to these cold conditions so I think we dealt with it well."

Fullerton goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon made three impressive saves in the first 13 minutes to prevent Air Force from building momentum.

"Once we had the lead we didn't even think about the fact that they were shorthanded in the second half," Spitz said. "We just pressed harder and did what we needed to for the win."

Air Force dominated the pace early as it kept the ball on the Titans' side of the field for the majority of the half. Fullerton didn't even get its first shot on goal until the 28th minute.

However, the Falcons couldn't break through.

"We had some times where we were out of position and they made some nice plays to get some goals," Hill said.