From the Bench... Sept. 4, 2003– Fullerton, Calif.
Coach Al Mistri:
"We are coming off one of our best weekends in recent memory, perhaps
back to the win over Indiana last year. We beat two quality opponents
in Ohio State and Penn State, and that bodes well for the future.
"Last year's recruits (Cid, Kljestan, Rodriguez) made the difference,
as well as the play of the veterans such as Hector Orellana and Brent
Whitfield. We missed Mitch Wagner (eligibility questions) and had to play
a rookie (freshman Amir Shafii) on defense, but that worked out well.
"While all of that is good, I didn't think we played as well as we
can. We need to finish more of our chances. As long as you create scoring
opportunities, the odds are you will get more than we did. The games should
not have been as tight as they were.
"We've suffered a blow with an injury to Whitfield (dislocated toe
in off-field accident). He's worked extremely hard for this season, so
it's a blow to him as well. They tell us he will be out three to four
weeks.
"Regarding our opponents this week, Cal has a very deceptive record
at 0-2-0. They played Indiana and Notre Dame. They are a very good team.
Stanford has been our nemesis, and even though they haven't played a game
yet, I'm sure they will be pretty well prepared for us. I think the word
is out as evidenced by the pre-season and the first week's polls, that
no one anticipated us being the kind of team that we are. So Cal and Stanford
will be pretty fired up for us."
