From the Bench... Nov. 4, 2002 – Fullerton, Calif.
Coach Al Mistri:
"We are at a critical stage of our season. We still are in position
for a post-season berth and I hope our players understand that. Because
of the strength of the Western Region this year, we may get as many as
12 teams in and some people think as many as 14. Two or three teams could
come from the Big West Conference The West is 58-25-9 against other regions.
That's a much better record than ever before and includes some wins late
in the season.
"But we have to be at least a .500 team to be considered, regardless
of how high our RPI or strength of schedule is. That means this week we
have two 'must-win' matches -- at UC Riverside and at home vs. Cal Poly.
If we win them and get a split next week with playoff-bound UC Santa Barbara
and Cal State Northridge, then we would be 9-8-3. We might be able to
afford a tie, but it would depend on whom it was against.
"Regarding the matches last week, again the common ground was our
inability to finish what seemed to be glaring chances. Against UC Irvine
we had at least two breakaways and their goalkeeper made a tremendous
play on a great shot by Andrew Sam. The bottom line is this has been the
story of our whole season. We get zillions of chances, some unbelievable,
like an empty net, and we still don't do it.
"We still believe, but we must win these two matches."
