The Big West Conference coaches have spoken: The Matadors will finish fifth in conference this season. The seven coaches got together for their annual poll released on Wednesday and scored CSUN 20 points, placing it  just ahead of UC Davis (14 points) and UC Riverside (12). UC Santa Barbara, league champion for three of the past five seasons, was picked to finish first (48 points). The Gauchos received six of the seven first-place votes while Cal Poly (40), the projected… Read more

Since 2002, ESPN The Magazine has produced an annual Ultimate Standings guide, which measures all professional teams from the four major American sports leagues in a myriad of categories. Such categories include ownership, fan relations, and stadium experience. But perhaps the most imperative of the bunch, in regards to students, is affordability. Since the Kings and Lakers aren’t currently playing, and Los Angeles is still a few years away from landing an NFL team, the Dodgers, by default, will be… Read more

The average student’s age on the CSUN campus drops during summer. The  age drop is caused by students who are on campus temporarily for summer classes, tours, and others for the summer youth sports camps.   CSUN’s athletic department is offering five youth camps in tennis, soccer, basketball, softball, and for the first time, volleyball. Head Coach Jeff Stork spoke enthusiastically about being able to pass on his many years of volleyball experience to the 72 young athletes who will be attending… Read more

C0-Sports Editor Alonso Tacanga contributed to this report Times sure have changed for the men’s basketball team since their admirable 2009 trip to the NCAA Tournament. And it’s all due to something a member of that last championship team says has changed little: grades. “That’s been a problem for a while,” said Rob Haynes, a senior on the 2009 Big West Tournament champion squad. Low-grade problems, among other factors, won’t allow the Matadors to even attempt to repeat the 2009… Read more

With tears running down his eyes, an emotional Don Strametz tried to regain his composure to speak to his team after the Big West Track and Field Championships Saturday in Irvine, California. “I’m extremely excited, especially to go out this way,” said Strametz after the Matador women picked up a sixth straight conference title. “Pretty emotional day for me, it’s hard to say goodbye.” It was a perfect way to end Strametz’s final Big West championship meet, culminating an illustrious… Read more

Michael Lizarraga, 22, the only deaf player in Division I men’s basketball last season, had his inspiring story covered by “The New York Times,” “Los Angeles Times,” ESPN, Fox Sports, “Los Angeles Daily News,” CBS Sports and many other media outlets. Having to cover the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team for the last two seasons, I had the opportunity to see all the attention Lizarraga received from reporters and began to wonder if he ever got tired of the… Read more

Nicole Concialdi Served as goalkeeper for the Cal State Northridge water polo team. As a Matador Concialdi tallied 268 saves in her career and is fourth in saves at CSUN. Her career-high was this season with 141 saves in 19 games. Concialdi plans to continue her higher education at Cal State Fullerton to obtain her teaching credentials and masters to ultimately become an elementary school teacher. Rashaun McLemore   The Virginia native played two-seasons with the CSUN basketball team. Last… Read more

With issues at both the defense and offense for most of the season, the Matadors had finally found a bright spot in the long tumultuous year. After winning two of three games against UC Santa Barbara, the Cal State Northridge baseball team (20-27) improved its Big West Conference record to 3-12, taking its first league series victory of the season. CSUN head coach Matt Curtis stressed the fact that winning league series is difficult in and of itself, so a… Read more

CSUN has been playing its best softball as of late, winning four out of the last six games and second-straight conference series, improving its league record to 8-10. Northridge will travel to Cal State Fullerton for the final three games of the 2011 season. The Matadors and Titans face off for a doubleheader at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, California. The Matadors (20-30, 8-10 Big West) took the series, 2-1, against the UC Riverside last weekend for the final match… Read more