I did some checking and I believe the Fullerton reference is internet or AI dribble. Here is a good summary of Max's background.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2025

Named to the MLS All-Star team.

2024

Played in 31 games for Columbus, scoring four goals. Finished 2nd in the East, exiting the playoffs in round one.

2023

Drafted by the Columbus Crew, playing in 12 games and scoring twice. Won MLS Cup with the Crew.

2022

Joined the San Jose Earthquakes II in MLS Next Pro, playing in 24 games.

YOUTH AND COLLEGE
Developed in the California Odyssey program. Played 39 games with eight goals over three seasons with UC Davis.

Looking forward to seeing if Max makes the pitch in the next 2 games!

NPR's take on Max--he received NO stars out of 3 and here is that bio.

Name: Max Arfsten

Age: 25

Hometown: Fresno, Calif.

Club team: Columbus Crew (MLS)

The 6-foot-1 winger made his USMNT debut in January 2025, playing in 16 of 18 matches that year. He was drafted by the Columbus Crew in 2023 after playing collegiately at UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton. At UC Davis, he attended as a walk-on, earning a scholarship and being named to the Big West All-Freshman team. The Fresno native returns home to train, saying, "his Fresno upbringing fuels his motor and competitiveness on the pitch." Equally comfortable playing with his right and left foot, he's been featured in many USMNT matches in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup and is expected to see playing time.

USA rolls to a dominating 4-1 win. Max does NOT see the pitch. There are several more games to see if Max gets his number called.

Arfsten shines as a final-third threat. He is a force for scoring and assisting. Looking up his stats for this year they include: Recording 4 goals and 4 assists in just 15 MLS starts, he scores exceptionally high for goal-scoring frequency among left wingbacks globally. His 77 total crosses and 14 chances show that. [

Max has elite speed and is a threat with either foot. I would think that Max will be subbed to bring in an attacking edge not if they are seeking to lock down the defense.

It will be a great start if the USA wins their first match in the pool to get 3 points.

1 Day to Max and team USA open.

Here is a great article by UCB writer and stats dude, on Why the USA falls short in mens soccer.

https://www.natesilver.net/p/why-isnt-the-us-better-at-soccer

Bummer Germany 2 USA 1. A close game which means team USA should be competitive all the way through the tourney. Germany 4 times champs is a European heavy weight.

Player ranking of Arfsten from the pundits.

Max Arfsten (72'): 5

Came on for Tim Ream with 18 minutes to go, allowing Auston Trusty to move centrally. Didn't provide his usual attacking flair, failing to connect with his two crosses and unable to lift the forward line from his wing-back position.

Score not as high as the first game. USA opens in about 6 days.

If you want to delve into how good Arsten is and how important he might be today against Germany and in the entire World Cup tourney here is an excellent YouTube with Max

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36K1nJhUjCI

Go USA go Max!!!!

Tomorrow big game for Arfsten and team USA( ranked 16th in the world), they play Germany( ranked 10th( in the world at Soldier stadium.

Arsten's added bio. The California native has earned 16 caps (13 starts) for the USMNT, recording one goal and five assists since making his debut against Venezuela in 2025.

Arfsten's five assists in 2025 are the most registered by a USMNT player in a calendar year since 2019, according to the Columbus Crew's official website.

GO USA and Arfsten!!!!!

Max making the 2026 World Cup squad is amazing. Looking for him and the USNT team to play hard and stack some impressive games next month. The pundits are pretty down on our team and are questioning having some many defenders. I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.

You are so right about the UC system. They have invested 100's of millions of dollars in the last few decades with retainer fees to firms to make sure that the best firms in CA do NOT go against them. I am sure that the handlers for the Vet school donation have already locked up the donation before going public. Rocko having an outside firm to look at the UCD's department is all the defense that the school needs to avoid a loss in court.

Yes men's horse polo won a couple of times and that pissed off the blue bloods. They started to have invites instead of a national championship and kept the Aggies out. I went on a quick AI search and did NOT find a lot of information on the past titles. The latest they had was in 2018 and did NOT include Princeton and any Ivies but did include a CAL Poly team.

They started a UCD polo club in 2021 but the old polo field on campus is no longer in use and hasn't been for at least 30 years. The current site for horse polo is in Yuba City.

I have no horse or dog in the fight but I feel as if the ICA department did a terrible injustice to the team, and their families. I see the 3rd party hire as a smoke screen for Rocko's desire to promote stunt.

I have been to 3 Equestrian events at UCD. The format of traveling and the draw of the horse is a very cool aspect of the sport. I enjoyed the entire event every time I went. UCD has great facilities and I enjoyed every minute of my day.

I feel for all the riders and the coaches to lose their sports status. The coaches will lose their job at the end of the contract and the program will take a HUGE step backward.

As for the cost, the ICA department did NOT spend large sums. The horses are donated, the families and others covered most of the expenses.

While neither stunt or equestrian are true NCAA sports but emerging I do NOT see the need to cut and promote. Doing a quick look at California schools it looks like we have CBU, SLO and UOP. So no high level school has a stunt and three programs does not mean local or regional competition.

This is Rocko's department and he is the one that should take the heat for this decision. I see it as short sighted and doing way more harm than good.

NCAA tournament for the Aggie waterpolo starts today. We play the 3rd seeded Stanford squad in their home pool. UCD is seeded 6th. I was at the September game against the Cardinals. We shot well from the outside and the Stanford goalie did NOT have a sharp game. The Cardinals scored most of their goals from Aggie turnovers. It would be a big upset but tighter team defense and then shooting like we own the Cardinal keeper could lead to an upset. For the Cardinal to win the tournament they have to win 3 games in 3 days at their home pool. We are in a good position--GO AGS l

Great season-tough loss in the tourney. UCD RPI's pre Big West tourney was 48 (very impressive). UCSB was 51 and Cal Poly 54. With all the automatic bids I think UCD is on the outside looking in. Not sure about how volleyball's NIT works, but they might head that direction. Great season for a the very BEST UCD volleyball in our school's history!

Age played the Trees on Sept 6th at home. Lost 6-12, but the Ags shot very well from the outside. Most of the Cardinals goals were off defensive mistakes. Will be a big task to take them down at their own pool. If they can continue to beat the Stanford goalie and play great team defense, they have a puncher's change. Very excited for Dan and the team to get to the big dance!!!!

In the past it was the student station KDVS 90.3.

Dan Conners has his team on fire. The Big West has a great history of volleyball. Let's hope the 2025 team can net UCD first BW conference title and go to the big dance. The team's current RPI is 62!

Private capital has no place in higher education. The power four schools should throw off their athletic departments . Doing so will drop the facade of education and let it be clear that the athletics department will function as a professional sports league. Leave traditional NCAA operations to mid-majors, D II and D. III. Our football and mid-major football teams do NOT need to be beat up in body bag games for 300-600,000 dollars. I am not surprised by these discussions, just by how quickly the power 4 landscape has changed.

I was in Paris last year for the para-games. It was wonderful. Only great interactions with everyone. Sure that the city was cleaned up, but the Parisians that were in the city. and outside the city had great attitudes. Went to several events where the city brought thousands of school children 14 -8 years olds to events. They brought a huge positive amount of energy. It was such a win-win the athletes inspired the crowd and the crowd inspired the athletes. A huge highlight of attending sporting events. I hope your trip is wonderful like mine.

Riveraggie The Bluebloods of football and men's basketball have generational tribes that have put money into the schools. This money in the way of facilities and traditional excellence generate more money. They have also taken some of the money and used the resources that come with so much money to develop ways to decrease competitiveness and increase their dominance. I fear that this is accelerating.

Kentucky has started a non-profit to increase payment to its athletes and I believe that this will be the standard for P-4 schools.
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/05/20/privatization-of-collegiate-athletics-begins-kentucky-announces-champions-blue-llc/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Non-P-4 schools are going to become less relevant and sports other than true money generating sports (football and men's basketball will also become less relevant.