From the Bench... Sept. 18, 2003– Fullerton, Calif.
Coach Al Mistri:
"Our biggest problem right now is getting our players’ confidence
back. I am very proud of them to this point. We have played entertaining,
skillful and thoughtful soccer with the exception of the first 15 minutes
at Cal and for 30 minutes against UCLA.
" We have a very good team. People whom I respect who saw our UCLA
match said the first half was 'Class A' play, at a quality they don't
often see at the collegiate level. We just came out flatter than I don't
know what for the second half, not to take anything away from UCLA. We
didn't deserve to lose the way we did. We played three out of four halves
last week of excellent soccer.
“We’re happy to be playing again at home, where we seem to have
more luck. We have only one match this week to focus on, which always
is helpful.
“Brent Whitfield made a token appearance at UCLA and probably won’t
be ready to go full speed for another week. Omar Bywaters probably will
not play due to the concussion he received in the first half at UCLA.
Otherwise, we need to get healthy and just keep on playing the way we
have and find a way to put the ball in the net.
"We have gone through the most difficult part of the schedule, and
we still have only three losses -- all to Pac-10 teams. We have three
more matches to get ready for the Big West Conference schedule, which
is our main focus."
