Bradbury Eager to Join the Game : Soccer: Titan junior who sat out last season’s semifinal match, can’t wait for NCAA opener tonight.
Matt Bradbury still remembers the disappointment.
His Cal State Fullerton team was in NCAA soccer’s final four at Davidson, N.C., last year against South Carolina. But Bradbury was relegated to the sideline because of three yellow cards earlier in the playoffs, one each in Titan victories against Fresno State, San Diego and San Francisco.
Bradbury could only watch while his teammates were beaten, 1-0, in the semifinals.
“It was the only game I hadn’t played since I’ve been in school here,” Bradbury said. “It was really hard to sit on the bench when you wanted to be out there trying to help your team win. If you’re hurt that’s one thing, but to be out because of yellow cards is something else.”
Even today, Bradbury simmers over the referees’ calls on a couple of those yellow cards, one in particular.
“At San Francisco, I got tripped, stepped on, and I was the one who got the yellow card,” Bradbury said. “I really think the referee let the crowd influence his call on that one.”
That frustrating day is one reason Bradbury, a junior, is especially looking forward to being back in the NCAA playoffs when the Titans (12-6-2) play San Diego (13-5) in a first-round game at 7 tonightin Titan Stadium.
On Nov. 27, the winner will face the survivor of Sunday’s Fresno State-San Francisco match. Other first-round games in the bracket send Indiana (19-2) against Notre Dame (12-9-2) and Creighton (14-4-1) against St. Louis (16-5).
“It would be great if we could back to the final four again this year,” Bradbury said. “And I want to do whatever I can to help.”
Bradbury has been doing a lot already. He leads the team in assists this season with eight. He has seven goals, and ranks second on the team in scoring with 22 points. Only senior Eddie Soto, who has 36 points with 16 goals, has scored more.
Bradbury’s three-goal effort against Loyola Marymount in the last game of the regular season boosted his personal momentum for the start of the playoffs.
“For a while this season things just weren’t falling our way, but now they are,” Bradbury said. “And when things aren’t going well, all the little things that go wrong are magnified. We had a lot of careless mistakes at one point. You just have to go on and not dwell on it.”
That’s what Fullerton has done. The Titans have not been beaten in their last five games, although they were tied, 2-2, by Notre Dame in the UCLA tournament in late October, the day after they upset top-ranked Indiana in overtime, 3-2.
Soto has scored eight goals in that stretch and has 10 in the team’s last nine games. Already the school’s career leader in goals, Soto has moved to within four points of all-time scoring leader Mike Fox, who now plays for the Salsa in the American Professional Soccer League.
Coach Al Mistri said Fullerton will face a formidable challenge from San Diego. The Toreros are led by striker Guillermo Jara, who has 12 goals and 15 assists this season. He has had at least one goal in each of the last five games, and six of his goals this season have won games. Mistri also said he regards Roger Lindqvist, the San Diego sweeper, as one of the nation’s top defenders. Lindqvist was an All-American a year ago as a junior.
San Diego has won seven consecutive games, two shy of the school record, but Bradbury said the Titans will be at their best against the Toreros.
“We’re a team that gets up for the big games, so I think we’ll play well,” he said.
