Head football coach Rich Ellerson, head women’s soccer coach Alex Crozier and head volleyball coach Jon Stevenson spoke at Cal Poly’s weekly athletics department press conference Monday afternoon.
Ellerson said that his team’s bye week “couldn’t come at a better time for us,” because of the team’s numerous injuries. He said that the injuries on the team cumulativly affect play and some will not go away in the next 10 days.
“If we had to play this week we’d be in trouble,” Ellerson said. “Where we are physically right now, I’ll take two byes to try get as many of these things behind us so they don’t follow us into the Davis game.”
Ellerson was also asked to comment on former Poly star Kyle Shotwell’s move to the Green Bay Packers from the Oakland Raiders.
“As long as someone is giving him a chance to play, it’s hard to walk away,” Ellerson said. He also said that Schaller’s experience with the Raiders put some things into perspective for him.
Crozier spoke about his team’s loss to Santa Clara last Friday as well as the upcoming conference play.
“Anytime you play the best team in the country, you’re gonna find out what you need to work on,” he said about playing No. 1 Santa Clara.
“We did a lot of good things against a very good team,” he added.
Crozier said his team was in control of the game on Friday for about 25 to 30 minutes and had two shot attempts gone their way, the outcome may have been quite different. He said the only negative things about his team to this point are their record (1-7-1) and that they haven’t gotten their break yet.
“We’re just looking for a W right now,” he said.
Crozier said in his 35-plus years of coaching, he has never experienced a season like this. He commented on the toughness of the pre season games and how that has contributed to his team’s record.
“We’re due. It’s gonna come and when it comes it’s just gonna come pouring in,” he added.
Crozier is looking forward to starting conference play at home Oct. 5 against UC Riverside at 7 p.m.
“It’s really not how you start the season, it’s how you finish the season,” he said.
Stevenson spoke in detail about his team’s recent loss to Pacific on Sept. 29. This was the team’s first conference loss.
“Our girls did not back off. They didn’t quit. They played very hard,” he said of the loss.
Stevenson mentioned that the Mustangs stayed very close with UOP in the games they lost and in some cases, he ran out of subs. He did say that it is remarkable that he has 15 subs to work with.
Stevenson said his team has had many ups and downs throughout the season, yet they have never thrown the white flag and surrendered.
“Teams have to play very hard to beat us,” he said.
In terms of goals for the season or what Stevenson hopes to accomplish with his team, he said he wants his team to become less unpredictable from game to game. He also said his squad is a team in evolution and he wants them to be fully evolved by December.
“We need to have better all-around production,” he said in terms of offense.
He mentioned the fact that outside hitters Ashleigh Bertoni, Ali Waller and Gaby Rivera are competing for two spots, which should increase production in all of them.
Overall, he wants more outside hitter production, a more diverse offense and more stability of play from game to game.
He spoke of the tremendous win his team had in the first game against UOP and how they failed to carry the confidence and energy over to the next games of the match.
To amend this problem, he said he would have to make drills more meaningful in practice to recreate a game-like sense of urgency among his players.
“Each and every match is gonna be a dog fight,” Stevenson said of conference play.
The team continues conference play this Friday against Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. in Mott Gym.