Mistri Looks for Way to Lift Soccer Team

Al Mistri found it surprising when he thought about it. The Cal State Fullerton men’s soccer coach was talking about this season and saying that he was “a little disappointed at this stage.”

Disappointed with a team that is 6-3-1?

That’s why Mistri did something of a double-take when hearing his own words.

“But we haven’t done as well as we hoped at this point, and I’m sure the players feel the same way about it as I do,” Mistri said. “It’s not like we’re having a bad season or anything close to that, but we were hoping we could be in the top 10 right now.”

Reaching the NCAA semifinals last season boosted hopes for this year. Fullerton started the season ranked seventh in the nation by Soccer America, but has dropped out of the top 20 and now is unranked.

Injuries and illness have played a role.

“We’ve played very well at times, but it seems as though we’ve never been able to start a game healthy and ready to go,” Mistri said.

The Titans defeated Washington, 2-0, but lost to Portland, 2-0, in the Washington tournament in Seattle last weekend. The Titans had more injury problems, one of them serious.

Demian Brown, who was having vision problems from a concussion in the Washington game, injured his knee against Portland, and he will be out the rest of the season. Brown was an intimidating force for the Titan defense last season, and was one of its key players this year.

The team also has been troubled several times with outbreaks of the flu. Eddie Soto, the team’s top player, was fatigued by dehydration during one stage of the season, and troubled by stomach flu at another turn.

Peter Lak also was injured over the weekend, losing two teeth in a collision in the Washington game.

If the Titans fail to win the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs that goes to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion, Mistri says the Titans will need a strong finish to gain an at-large bid.

“We were 12-6 last year and made it in,” Mistri said. “But right now, all this considered, you’d have to say our at-large bid is in jeopardy. A lot will depend on what happens in our last 10 games of the regular season.”

The Titans defeated San Diego State in its only Pacific Division conference game. They play two conference games this weekend, one at UC Santa Barbara Friday and the other at Cal State Northridge Sunday.

Mistri is still hoping the team will become more consistent, however.

“That’s been one of our problems,” he said. “One of the games we lost this season was to Stanford and that’s the only game they’ve won all year. Right now, it seems like a season of missed opportunities, but those things can change too.”

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Fullerton cross-country Coach John Elders said his men’s team was “pretty much overwhelmed” at the Stanford Invitational last weekend, with the Titans finishing 15th in a field of 16 teams.

“We had five freshmen, a sophomore and a junior competing, so we were asking quite a bit from a team that young,” Elders said. “But this is a great young group, and they’ll continue to improve. Our goal is to finish in the top three in the Big West, and I still think that’s a reasonable goal.”

Fullerton’s highest individual finish in the men’s division was by Mark Sinderson, who was 59th in the meet. “I think he’s much better than that, but he was fatigued at this meet because he’s been running so many training miles right now. He’s never run this much before, but we feel it will pay off for him in the championship phase of the season.”

The Titan women’s team fared slightly better at Stanford, taking 11th in a field of 17. Heather Killeen, favored to win the Big West title, also was below-par but still finished 10th.

Elders also expects the women’s team to be among the top three in the conference. UC Santa Barbara, which won last year, has many of its runners back. “We’re probably just a tad behind Irvine right now for the No. 2 spot in the conference,” Elders said.

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Titan basketball Coach Bob Hawking is optimistic about making some recruiting inroads in the early basketball signing period, Nov. 9-16.

“We’re working on a lot of players and we’d like to sign some guys early if that’s possible,” he said. “Of course, it’s still very early in the process, but our goal is to sign two players in the early-signing period.”

Hawking still has one vacancy on his staff for an assistant coach. “We hope to be able to do something on that before too long,” Hawking said. George Tuttle moved into a full-time position when Hawking became interim coach.

Titan Notes

Freshman outfielder C.J. Ankrum and sophomore pitcher-outfielder Mark Kotsay are among 72 college baseball players invited to the U.S. baseball team’s fall tryouts, Nov. 2-6 in Homestead, Fla. The trials are designed to identify the top players for the national team for the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Titan junior pitcher Ted Silva played on the U.S. team this past season. . . . The Titans will have a “Midnight Madness” program for the opening of basketball drills. Practice officially starts at midnight Oct. 14. An introduction of the men’s and women’s teams is planned beginning at 11 p.m., with a dunk contest for the men’s team starting practice at midnight. . . . The women’s soccer team is 3-4 this season, already surpassing last season’s two victories. Jennifer Patterson and Amber Dickey lead the team in scoring, each with three goals. Regular goalkeeper Jennifer Bryant has given up 10 goals and recorded 20 saves.