CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Mistri Upset Soccer Team Fails to Make Playoffs

The bitter end to a successful season left a sour taste for Cal State Fullerton soccer Coach Al Mistri, and he grimaced even more when the NCAA announced its tournament pairings Monday.

The Titans (12-6) were not among the 28 teams selected for the playoffs, which didn’t surprise Mistri. He figured their postseason hopes evaporated with Friday night’s 3-1 loss to Washington in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Soccer Federation tournament.

But when two teams with worse records, Evansville (11-8-3) and Stanford (11-7-2), were placed in the West Regional, Mistri got a bit miffed.

There was no debating Evansville’s inclusion in the tournament field. Evansville earned an automatic berth by winning the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament.

But Stanford was an at-large team, and Mistri felt the Cardinal’s bid had something to do with Stanford’s renown.

“It’s a shame, but what it boils down to is we’re at least equal to them and we lose,” Mistri said. “How is 11-7-2 better than 12-6? We’ve played similar schedules, so it’s very hard to pick.

“I think there’s a lot of back-room politicking. It’s hard to hide my disappointment, but until there’s more scrutiny of the selection process, this isn’t going to go away.”

A prominent factor working in Stanford’s favor was the Cardinal’s upset of UCLA in the MPSF tournament Friday. The teams were tied, 1-1, after regulation and four 15-minute overtime periods, but Stanford won on penalty kicks to advance to Sunday’s final, where the Cardinal lost to Washington, 1-0.

Mistri saw the Stanford-UCLA match, and thought Stanford’s game plan was ultra-conservative. He thought the Cardinal did everything it could to waste time, so the match would end in a tie and be decided by penalty kicks. But what the selection committee likely focused on was Stanford’s victory over UCLA and Fullerton’s 3-1 loss to UCLA in its final regular-season match.

“They say you’re only as good as your last game, and it was the last two games that really mattered for us,” Mistri said. “But we were still co-champs of the (MPSF) Pacific Division and had only one loss at home. The quality of soccer we played is very encouraging.”

Equally encouraging is the fact that every player from this season’s team, including high-scoring forward Eddie Soto, versatile fullback Paul McDonnell and standout goalie Mike Ammann, will return next season. There isn’t one senior on the Titan roster.

“If we can get a little more depth next year, we’ll be right in the hunt,” Mistri said.

War of words: Talk is cheap, and it appears to be an item the Titan football team doesn’t scrimp on, even on its notoriously tight budget.

While Pacific quarterback Troy Kopp was giving Fullerton an air-fill--he completed 22 of 35 passes for 295 yards and a touchdown in the Tigers’ 23-20 victory Saturday--he said the Titans were giving him an earful.

“They talk more trash than any team I’ve ever seen,” said Kopp, a former Mission Viejo High School standout. “But that hurt them in the end because they got some penalties. There were cheap shots on almost every play. We all understand football is a tough sport, but you can’t do it after the whistle.”

Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy, whose defense was penalized twice for late hits on the drive that led to Pacific’s game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter, took offense to Kopp’s comment.

“We don’t appreciate his mouth either,” Murphy said. “It’s called reciprocity. Kopp doesn’t get the cloistered-monk-of-the-month award. He who casts stones and lives in glass houses better keep his mouth shut.”

In the running: The Titans are last in the Big West Conference in total offense and offensive scoring, but Fullerton has moved to the top of the conference in rushing defense, allowing an average of 125.3 yards per game. That ranks the Titans 20th in the nation.

What’s more, if you took away the Titans’ losses to Georgia (56-0) and UCLA (37-14), their opponents have rushed for only 80.4 yards per game.

“What has kept this team together is the defense,” Murphy said. “Week after week, I can’t say enough about the defense. They’ve been more aggressive, more tenacious, and as long as they hang in there and play like that, we’ll be in most games.”

No charge: Opposing Big West coaches will provide the theme for Fullerton’s 1992-93 basketball promotion schedule.

Fans attending conference games in Titan Gym, with the exception of the March 6 Nevada Las Vegas game, will be admitted free of charge if they naturally possess or adopt for the night one of the identifying trademarks of the rival coaches, who have approved the promotion.

For instance, because UC Irvine Coach Rod Baker sports a mustache, all fans with mustaches will be admitted free to the Feb. 13 game against the Anteaters. Bald or balding fans will be admitted free to the Feb. 18 game against Long Beach in honor of Coach Seth Greenberg’s receding hair line.

The rest of the promotional schedule: Jan. 7, Nevada, Coach Len Stevens (age 52)--Fans 50 and older admitted free; Jan. 9, Utah State, Coach Kohn Smith--Fans named Smith admitted free; Jan. 28, San Jose State, Coach Stan Morrison--Fans wearing glasses admitted free; Jan. 30, Pacific, Coach Bob Thomason--Fans wearing golf apparel admitted free; Feb. 20, UC Santa Barbara, Coach Jerry Pimm--Fans named Jerry or Geri (any spelling) admitted free; March 4, New Mexico State, Coach Neil McCarthy--Fans with gray hair admitted free.

Titan Notes

Noel Prefontaine’s blocked extra-point attempt in the fourth quarter against Pacific Saturday snapped a streak of 80 successful Titan PATs dating to Nov. 29, 1988, when Utah State blocked Stan Lambert’s extra-point try. Since then, Phil Nevin had gone 69 for 69, Julio Ocana was nine for nine and Prefontaine was two for two. . . . Former New Mexico State and Sunny Hills High quarterback David Chisum will join Titan sports information director Mel Franks in the radio booth for Fullerton’s game at New Mexico State Saturday. Chisum, a fifth-year senior at New Mexico State, is a broadcast major who has been covering Las Cruces, N.M.-area high school football games. . . . Tim McDonnell, who transferred to Fullerton after UC Irvine dropped its baseball program last spring, led the Titans with a .500 average during the recently completed fall season, during which Fullerton played 16 intrasquad games. Jeremy Carr hit .455 with 19 runs, freshman Kyle Evans hit .438 and D.C. Olsen hit .385 with six home runs. . . . The Titan men’s and women’s cross-country teams travel to Tucson for Saturday’s NCAA regional meet, a qualifier for the Nov. 23 NCAA championships.