Instead of playing their much-anticipated game against defending national champions UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, the CSUN men’s soccer team traveled to northern California to attend funeral services for their teammate Jay Singh, who died unexpectedly at his home in San Bruno on Sunday.
The game against Santa Barbara has been postponed until Nov. 14.
The Matadors will play their Saturday game, hosting the UC Riverside Highlanders at Matador Soccer Field at 2 p.m.
CSUN has tied its first two conference games, both with scores of 1-1 against Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 3 and No. 25 UC Irvine on Oct. 6. The Matadors record is 4-2-3 overall and 0-0-2 in Big West play.
Riverside will come to Northridge with a 3-3-3 overall record and 0-1-1 in conference play. The Highlanders lost to UC Davis (2-1) and tied Cal Poly (2-2).
The Matadors have a 16-game unbeaten streak against Riverside, with a 12-1-5 overall record against the Highlanders.
Sophomore forward Sunghyun Kim leads CSUN’s offense with four goals and one assist on the season. Freshman forward Camilo Rojas follows with three goals and six points and junior midfielder Devin Deldo, also with six points, has two goals and one assist.
Sophomore defender Robert Pate has been key on the back line, earning Big West Player of the Week honors on Oct. 1, as well as being named to the SoccerAmerica Team of the Week, following CSUN’s 3-0 win against the UCLA Bruins.
Junior goalkeeper Kevin Guppy has 29 saves for the season and could earn his fifth shutout.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast on GoMatadors.com.
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