Last weekend’s trip to the Utah Classic showed that a good team can take the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team out of rhythm. This weekend, the Matadors (1-2) will try to rebound as they travel north to the state capitol for the Sacramento State Invitational. Northridge’s second tournament of the season will be more evenly-matched. They will not see stiff competition like Northwestern and Utah, teams that swept the Matadors last weekend. Instead, CSUN will face Marist (1-2), Fresno… Read more

After starting the season right with a victory against Canisius on Friday, the Matadors men’s soccer team hopes to take that momentum and use it in the Cal State Northridge Labor Day Classic starting tonight. CSUN (1-0) will face UNLV (0-1) at 7 p.m. Cal State Fullerton and Akron will open the Classic earlier in the day (4:30 p.m.). Losing their season opener on the road against Cal Poly, the Rebels, who have lost five straight to the Matadors coming… Read more

The CSUN women’s soccer team will look to end a three-game losing streak on Friday night against New Mexico at Matador Soccer Field. The Matadors (0-3) started the 2011 campaign with losses against No. 9 UCLA, Baylor and Texas while being outscored 1-8. During the losing streak, Northrdge has struggled on both the offensive and defensive side. “We’re making silly mistakes,” CSUN head coach Keith West said. “We can’t make silly mistakes against those teams. They can punish you.” CSUN… Read more

With a proper studio now located in the Valley Performing Arts Center, CSUN-affiliated public KCSN-88.5 FM is determined to bring “smart rock” to Los Angeles, said station general manager Karen Kearns. Differing from stations that spit out top 40 hits repetitively throughout the day, KCSN is highlighting storytelling in music currently missing in radio, Kearns said. “It’s music and message, and that’s all that really matters,” she added. The station spent more than 15 years in a temporary space in… Read more

September begins the 2011/2012 season for the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC), where in its January premiere, the venue attracted a host of celebrity performers such as Joan Rivers and Shirley MacLaine, and an opening gala that was studded with some of Hollywood’s finest.  For its sophomore season, VPAC managing associate for new media and web David Mascarina predicts this season will be bigger and better. “We have doubled the amount of shows — a great amount of interest in… Read more

Graffiti lines the walls of the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA),  but there are no signs of vandalism. Appropriately decorated with deep blue and seemingly random strokes of paint, the PMCA welcomed its newest exhibit, “Street Cred: Graffiti Art from Concrete to Canvas.” From license plates splattered in paint to foam and acrylic sprouting from the corner of the wall, the PMCA grasped the evolution of graffiti and projected it to its observers. “The show is about people in… Read more

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union turned down the appeal of former Florida substitute teacher Shawn Loftis, whose teaching certification was revoked in April after his gay porn past was revealed. Loftis, who performed under the stage name Collin O’Neal, believes that had he been a heterosexual porn actor, administrative efforts would have been different. Still, the ACLU denied Loftis’ claim, telling him that his case would have been stronger had his job not involved supervising children. Was the… Read more

The new recreation center will open in January 2012 and construction is on schedule, sparking student excitement for the campus amenity. “I use the smaller one in between classed, I loved it,” said Jason Duarte, cinema and television major. “Something bigger would be great.” Some health conscious students who take their fitness off-campus said they would reconsider those memberships after the new complex is built. “It would be more convenient because it’s on campus, but I’d have to consider it,”… Read more

Free giveaways, crafts and live music were only some of the perks students enjoyed at Wednesday’s Matafest, the USU‘s first event of the year. “It’s our welcome to campus and kickoff event, (and) a preview of the bigger events we have planned,” said Iris Pupo, event assistant. Welcome prizes given by the USU included gift cards to the Matador Bookstore, Freudian Sip, a Big Show ticket, and a parking permit, won by Jennifer Canty, a liberal studies junior. “It’s great… Read more