Another opportunity for the CSUN men’s soccer team (0-5-1) to attain its first victory of the season only leads to more questions.
Northridge went 0-2 in the University of Akron Tournament over the weekend.
CSUN is now winless through its first six games and has been outscored 12-2 and outshot 91-63. Up until this year, in Terry Davila’s 12 seasons as CSUN’s head coach, the Matadors have never gone more than two games before they got their first win.
However, last year’s Big West Coach of the Year is not ready to panic and is confident his young team will be able to turn things around at some point during the season.
“The season isn’t seven games long, we have 13 games left,” Davila said. “We just have to keep our heads up, put up our sleeves and keep going.”
The previous worst start through six games for CSUN was in 2006 where the team went 2-3-1. The only losing seasons under Davila for the Matadors were the first two seasons of his tenure back in the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
“We’re going through it, but we’ve been playing on the road lately,” Davila said. “We have a lot of first-year starters in just about every position. It’s always darkest before dawn, we’ll be ready for the start of the Big West season.”
Before a sold-out crowd of 4,200 at the newly renovated Lee Jackson Field, the Matadors played their first game of the Akron Tournament against host team No.1 Akron on Friday.
Any hopes of a Matador upset were crushed early as Northridge allowed a flurry of three goals in the first half in a 3-0 loss against the Zips.
The Matadors were dominated and clearly outmatched against quite possibly the most talented team in the nation.
The lone Northridge highlight came in the second period, as CSUN outshot the Zips 5-4 in the second half. That stat is somewhat misleading, as Akron withdrew its starters in place for its reserves for much of the second period.
Twenty different Matadors played during Friday’s matchup, with defenders Joe Franco and Jake Troy being the only two Matadors that played the entire 90 minutes of the match. No single player was able to rack up multiple shots for the Matadors.
The Matadors second game of the tournament took place Sunday against the University of Illinois, Chicago, and they finished the tournament undefeated after going in without a win.
The Flames pulled off a devastating come-from-behind win, 2-1, against the Matadors after freshman forward Sam Ball helped Northridge attain its first lead of the season in the opening minutes of the second half.
The second goal of the season for the Matadors came in the form of an unassisted shot by Ball from three yards out that found the near post. Ball has the Matadors only two goals of the season and is also the only Matador to receive a red card, after he was ejected in the 64th minute.
With a man down, the Flames took full advantage as they scored back-to-back goals, including the game-winner coming off the foot of forward Paul Tracy from 5 yards in the 84th minute.
Northridge midfielder Luis Gil and Ball received All-Tournament Honors for their efforts over the weekend. The Matadors finish off their six-game road trip when they take on the University of San Francisco at 7 p.m. Friday.
