Injuries, Instability Wreck Men's Soccer Season Oct. 14, 2001 – San Luis Obispo, Calif. In the mountainous
pile of statistics that a computer can generate even for a remarkably
simple game such as soccer, one compact set of numbers concisely tells
the story of the 2001 Cal State Fullerton men’s soccer season. Of
the 24 players on the season-ending roster, 22 of them had started at
least one match as Coach Al Mistri sought to compensate for an inordinate
number of injuries while trying to create some chemistry for a very young
squad.
“If we were starting the season over today, there’s not that
much different I would do,” said Mistri of the 9-10-1 campaign that
included a 5-5 mark in the Big West Conference. “We scheduled very
aggressively and then the injuries hit and we could never deveop a set
lineup to gain some continuity. This reminds me of the 1997 team (10-10-0)
other than just the similarity in records. It was a season in flux.”
Adding to the frustration is the knowledge that the Titans probably would
have gained the NCAA playoffs had they turned just one of those losses
into a victory. Fullerton had the highest RPI of any Big West Conference
team at the end of the season because of strength of schedule -- the Titans
went 2-5-1 against teams that made the 48-team bracket. No Big West team
received an at-large bid.
“The positive side of all of this is that we did gain a lot of experience
this season and should be much better for it next year,” said Mistri,
who is now 238-160-32 in 21 seasons running the Titans’ men’s
program.
The Titans hope to carry the momentum of the final weekend of the season
into Spring drills. They beat Cal Poly SLO (3-0) and UC Santa Barbara
(3-2), Only once (4-0 win vs. Saint Mary’s) did they score more goals
in a match.
Sophomore Hector Orellana led the offensive attack with 22 points on a
team-high 9 goals and 4 assists. Sophomore Brent Whitfield (6 goals, 14
points) and sophomore Cameron McKinnon (6 goals, 13 points) were the only
other players in double figure scoring.
In goal, Tulsa transfer Jeff McKeever (6-7-1) played more minutes than
redshirt freshman Sam Reynolds (3-3) but it will be a fight for the top
spot next year. The Titans must replace three seniors including defender
Ray Ramirez, who started all 82 matches the past four seasons.
