The CSUN women’s soccer program hit rock bottom in 2023 after finishing with a 1-13-5 record. Coming into the 2024 season, the program has only had seven wins since 2019. All of the Big West Conference schools did not play during the COVID-struck 2020 season.
CSUN athletic director Shawn Chin-Farell had to make a hire that would reignite a once-proud program that won the Big West as recently as 2016.
Just four games into the season, CSUN head coach Gina Brewer has proven that she can be the one to do that.
After picking up their first win of the year at home against Loyola Marymount on Aug. 25, the CSUN women’s soccer team has already tied their win total from last season.
Brewer spoke with The Daily Sundial about the importance of having a tougher preseason as the Matadors opened up with three 2023 conference champions in Cal Baptist, Texas Tech, and Idaho.
“That was definitely a tough challenge…but they were good in the sense that it sets us up for knowing what we’re going to be seeing in terms of future quality opponents..it’s not easy but it prepares us for conference,” she said.
Brewer dealt with a pre season injury to her returning goalkeeper, Hayden Mauldin. Mauldin, a 2022 Big West All-Freshman selection, was slated to be one of the foundational pieces to Brewer’s inaugural starting 11.
With the injury to Mauldin, Brewer turned to redshirt junior Riley Liebsack. Liebsack was on the roster for the Matadors in 2023, but suffered an injury that took out her whole season. She has admirably filled in and her play has been enough to keep the Matadors in good shape for the time being.
“I’ve really liked what I have seen from her,” Brewer said of Liebsack’s play. “We’ve been happy with her, she’s been solid for us.”
After a close 1-0 loss to CBU to open the year, the Matadors traveled to Lubbock, Texas, to take on the reigning Big XII champs. Liebsack finished with 10 saves in the 4-0 loss.
Brewer said it best.
“We had one chance early on, but other than that, we were defending for the rest of the game.”
The Matadors were struggling to finish offensively. They had 14 total shots in their two losses, and nine of them were on goal.
Before the game against Idaho, Brewer preached on the importance of figuring out the offense. As soon as the first whistle was blown, the emphasis on creating chances early was evident.
“Scoring was always one of the things we have been focused on as well as creating more dangerous chances,” Brewer noted.
The Matadors ended up losing the game 2-1, but the offense saw improvement.
Brewer said after the game she was pleased with what she saw, but knew there was room for improvement.
“Scored our first goal so that was fantastic, but then as the game went on, we lost a bit of our momentum and we tried to gain it back…overall it’s an improvement and we saw a lot of positives.”
CSUN used the momentum to propel themselves to a 2-1 win over LMU on Sunday night thanks to goals by Cailey Jackson and Jordyn Canister.
Canister went on to win Big West Freshman of the Week honors.
With the toughest part of their schedule over with, the Matadors are looking to carry their winning ways with them on the road as they take on the University of Denver on Aug. 29 and the University of Oregon on Sept. 1.
