With inconsistency and turmoil surrounding Northridge’s (1-6-1) season thus far, CSUN mens soccer has an opportunity for a clean slate on Saturday.
The Matadors begin Big West Conference play on the road against Cal State Fullerton (1-4-2).
The start of conference for some teams, such as No. 9 UC Irvine (7-1-0), is an opportunity to continue building on its success throughout the season.
For others such as UC Santa Barbara, which is on a three-game winning streak, it’s a chance to build upon its recent success after a rather disappointing start, where it didn’t win its first match until five games into the season.
For the Matadors it’s an opportunity to learn from the past and start all over.
The first win of the season, which came in a 4-0 victory against Air Force on Sunday, has the Matadors itching for more.
“Winning that first game is probably the toughest thing,” freshman defender Angel Sanchez said. “Now that we’ve won, we know how it feels to win. We want to keep winning.”
The Matadors are also optimistic about coming together at just the right time, which could lead them to a winning streak.
“We’re coming close as a team and that gives us more confidence to support one another,” Sanchez said. “Just go out there and leave it all on the field. It gives us the confidence to be more consistent and just keep winning and winning.”
Like the Matadors, the Titans also come into Big West play searching for their second win of the season.
The Titans and the Matadors have shared four opponents thus far, University of San Francisco, University of Washington and San Jose State, yet both share similar results going winless.
Although the Titans only have one win under their belt they are capable of putting up points in bunches as they have only been shutout twice this season. Both teams, however, are identical statistically as Cal State Fullerton has seven goals coming off 78 shot attempts compared to CSUN’s seven goals off 95 shot attempts.
The Titans are led offensively by junior forward Nick Posthuma, who has more than half of the Titan’s total goals this season with four.
Posthuma leads the Big West in scoring and is also the team’s leader in shots with a total of 13. On the defensive end goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon is second in the conference with 34 saves.
Offensively the Matadors are led by midfielder Rafael Garcia, who is tied for fifth in the Big West for shots taken with 17 shots. Garcia is also the team’s leader in assist with a total of two.
Northridge has not lost a conference opener since 2002, when they were defeated 2-1 at home by UC Irvine.
