Home Crowd Gives Titan Soccer Team Lift

A year ago, Cal State Fullerton battled its way to the final four of NCAA soccer tournament the hard way, winning three consecutive road games.

Coach Al Mistri is happy he can look forward to his team’s second playoff game at home this time. The Titans (13-6-2) will meet San Francisco (10-6-4) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Titan Stadium.

“That’s the biggest thing in our favor right now,” Mistri said.

Mistri felt the home crowd gave his team a lift in Saturday night’s 3-1 overtime victory over San Diego. “Our team was really pretty down at the end of regulation play, but being at home helped us come back in the overtime,” he said.

The crowd of 2,787 at Fullerton was the largest of the three NCAA playoff games played on the West Coast. The San Francisco-Fresno State crowd Sunday was 2,493. UCLA’s game at home against Alabama Birmingham attracted fewer than 1,000. In comparison, top-ranked Indiana drew 4,496 for its game in Bloomington against Notre Dame. That was the biggest crowd of the 16 first-round games.

“From our standpoint, we were fortunate that San Francisco beat Fresno State because I have no doubt that the NCAA would have given Fresno the game because of their stadium,” Mistri said.

Mistri says the two home playoff games could go a long way to show that soccer has a following on the Fullerton campus.

“For soccer to prosper at Fullerton, we need to show that it’s a viable thing and has the support to pay for itself,” he said. “Saturday’s game went a long way to show that.”

Saturday’s game brought in about $14,000, but the NCAA takes 75% of the receipts, leaving the host school 25% after expenses. Although the financial report is not complete, Fullerton should show a small profit on Saturday’s game.

Mistri said he is hoping for an even bigger turnout among students for Sunday’s game. “Our students are from a generation that has had some exposure to soccer, so it’s a game that they have some identification with,” he said.

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Mistri expects the Titans to face a strong challenge from San Francisco, even though the Dons will be without three players because of penalties against Fresno State. Defender Jason Wescott and forward Erik Vadopals received red cards, and forward David Kurtz-Reyes had two yellow cards in the game.

Mistri made the trip to Fresno Sunday to scout the game and was impressed by the Dons’ strength.

“San Francisco is a team very similar to ours,” Mistri said. “First of all, they never give up. They’re tough and well-disciplined, and they’ve played very well late in the season with their backs against the wall. And secondly, they have an outstanding striker in Staale Soebye from Norway.”

Soebye has 16 goals and 10 assists. No one else on the team has more than nine goals.

“They’re solid defensively too,” Mistri said. “Their sweeper and blocking backs are very tough on balls in the air.”

Mistri calls San Francisco goalkeeper Scott Thompson “small by Division I standards” at 5 feet 8. “But he has a very aggressive posture,” Mistri said.

Mistri said the midfield could be the Dons’ strength. “They pass the ball very well,” he said.

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The Titans, however, are playing solid soccer. They appeared to have Saturday night’s game won in regulation before San Diego striker Guillermo Jara scored with 28 seconds left, but Fullerton rallied behind forwards Eddie Soto and Matt Bradbury to win in overtime.

Soto has been on an offensive tear. He has scored 10 of his 18 goals for the season in the last six games and had two in overtime Saturday. With his second goal against San Diego, he established three more school records: single season goals (18), single season points (41) and career points (96). He had broken the career goal-scoring record earlier, and now has 38 in three seasons.

Mistri’s biggest concern at this point is the lack of depth.

“We played Saturday’s game with only 13 people and that’s a long way to go with only two substitutes,” Mistri said.

Two players who sat out last week for disciplinary reasons, goalkeeper Mike Kornock and midfielder Martin Palos, will be back, but Adrian Cortes is out with torn ankle ligaments.

The Titans lost standout sweeper, Demian Brown, with an injury at midseason. That forced Mistri to move standout midfielder, Alfred Partida, into the defender position, where he continues to play well. “He’s been a very steadying influence for us,” Mistri said.

Titan Notes

Former NBA star Julius Erving will be the keynote speaker for the fourth “Bid of Excitement” auction at Fullerton. The event, which is scheduled April 28, raises money for Titan athletics in addition to other departments at the university. . . . The Titan women’s volleyball team finished at 1-28. Stephanie Cargill led the team in hitting percentage at .266 and Jennifer Lipski was the leader in kills with 229. . . . The women’s basketball team opens its season at home at 7 p.m. Friday against Washington State. . . . The wrestling team will be in action Friday and Saturday at the Las Vegas Invitational.