From the Bench... Oct. 22, 2002 – Fullerton, Calif.
Coach Al Mistri:
"We're coming off three very good games... the loss at UC Santa Barbara
and the wins over Cal Poly and UC Riverside. We've really come together
in the midfield, playing more aggressively and finishing our chances.
All nine of our goals in the last three games have been very remarkable.
It's very encouraging.
"This game with UC Irvine is crucial... to win the league, which
is our goal. It's an indication of how tough this conference is this year
that Irvine lost at home Saturday to Cal Poly. So UCI will be ready to
avenge that and they need to win, too. We need to win to get back to .500
and to retain our spot in the standings. Plus, we want to avenge the worst
defeat ever in our stadium (7-2 loss last Oct. 21). The returning players
are fired up.
"Our main concern right now is our health. Mitch Wagner has tendinitis
in his lower leg and Uki Mihata has a knee problem and neither one could
practice Monday. David Dischner did practice gingerly after having to
come out of the UCR match. Hopefully, he will be ready to go Tuesday night."
