Box Score

FULLERTON, Calif. --- Portland’s Steven Evans scored twice and the Pilots jumped out to an early lead before cruising to a 4-0 win over the Cal State Fullerton Titans on Sunday afternoon at the Wilson Titan Classic at Titan Stadium. The Pilots finish their stay in Fullerton with a 1-1-0 record, while the Titans dropped to 0-2-0.

Cal State Northridge went 2-0 during the weekend to claim the Wilson Titan Classic title. Evans, Derek Boggs and Keith Grubisich were named to the all-tournament team.
 
The Pilots applied early and constant pressure and had several quality looks during the game’s opening 10 minutes, forcing Titan goalkeeper Adam Zepeda into a handful of saves.
 
Portland then registered its first tally of the season when the Pilots were awarded a somewhat rare indirect free kick from inside the 18-yard box. Boggs took the first touch to Anderson, who drilled a shot just under the crossbar to give the Pilots a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.
 
Moments later it was Evans with his first goal of the game to hand the Pilots an early 2-0 advantage. Jaime Velasco fed Evans with a pass inside the left edge of the 18-yard box, and from there the junior midfielder buried a shot inside the right post.
 
Portland then took command of the game when Ben Hemphill scored off of a corner kick just before the half to make it a 3-0. Fullerton was unable to clear the ball out of the area, and Hemphill was there to punch it in.
 
Hemphill nearly scored Portland’s fourth goal a few minutes later when he rattled the left post with a powerful header.
 
Already leading 3-0, Evans put the game on ice when he converted a penalty kick in the 56th minute.
 
The Pilots outshot the Titans 22-11, and Zepeda finished with four saves before getting subbed for with 12 minutes to play. Just one of Fullerton’s shots was on-goal, and Portland goalkeeper Justin Baarts didn’t need to make a save in registering his fourth career shutout.
 
Portland next returns home to host the Nike Invitational next weekend at Merlo Field. On Friday, the Washington Huskies kick off the invite with a 4:30 p.m. match against the Wisconsin Badgers. Portland follows with a game against CSU Bakersfield at 7 p.m.
 
The Huskies then face CSU Bakersfield at 12 p.m. on Sunday, and Portland will battle Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m.