George Kuntz is acutely aware of the nuances. He’s conscious of what victories mean beyond the simple and immutable fact that wins and losses are what he and his program are ultimately judged by.
Kuntz is aware that certain victories, even certain victories in the early stages of what could be the best season in his nine years coaching the Cal State Fullerton men’s soccer team, are more equal than others.
Beating Mercer, 6-1? Nice. Taking down Air Force, 2-1? Again, nice. Tying a ranked Washington team, 1-1, in Seattle? Well, yes, that’s nice too – but hardly transcendent or attention-grabbing.
But taking down UCLA – yes, that UCLA – 4-1?
To quote Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie in “Django Unchained” on behalf of the greater collegiate soccer world, “You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. …”
“That was a statement win. I can tell you that UCLA is just another team, but to these guys and to the public, it was something different. It was more than that,” Kuntz said. “You can beat almost anyone and there’s not a blip or a word about it. But when we beat UCLA, I was getting texts and getting attention from all over the world. Everyone was texting me, and everyone was aware of it, and it was a huge spike in the awareness of our program.
“I told them that until you beat teams like this, you’re not relevant. You have to be able to knock down those teams and compete with them straight up. And we did that.”
These Titans are indeed relevant. They are more than a curiosity, and yes, they have the attention of the West Coast collegiate soccer world through an 8-2-2 start. That start not only includes victories over UCLA and Air Force and that gutsy tie with a 25th-ranked Washington team but wins over Loyola Marymount (1-0) and conference foes Cal State Northridge (5-4) and UC Davis (1-0).
The LMU victory came on the road against a previously undefeated Lions team. Beating CSUN also came on the road, via an…
Read the full article here
