The Matadors (3-4-1) head north to face UC Davis (2-4-2) in their Big West season opener tonight, despite a scare of an alleged gunman at school on Tuesday.
The team finished practice on schedule, but was unaware of the developing news of a man possessing a gun near the Oviatt Library during their morning training on Tuesday.
“(The team) didn’t realize until after I got home,” co-captain Joe Franco said. “We had no idea. We were practicing at the time when that stuff was going on.”
CSUN assistant coach Peter Bomar said the team noticed helicopters hovering above campus, but the group was unaware of the news until they checked their phones after practice.
Midfielder Rafael Garcia tried not to let the situation linger in his head for too long.
“I was a little bit surprised,” Garcia said. “You don’t really expect these things to happen. But I just kind of went on with the rest of my day.”
With only Davis in their mind, the Matadors took off for northern California thinking of adding to UC Davis’ misery of late. The Aggies enter the Big West having lost their last three games, against Northwestern, Northern Illinois and Sacramento State.
Aggies midfielder Eddie Manella has led his team this season with one goal and one assist. He has also had 22 shots, wwwith nine on goal.
Davis leads the all-time series against CSUN 6-2-2 and has won the last two matches. The last time the teams met, on Oct. 16, 2010, the Aggies came away with a 1-0 win in double overtime.
Even though history is not on their side, the Matadors have done plenty of scouting to get their first Big West win against the Aggies.
“We took a look at their tendencies offensively and defensively,” Bomar said. “We also took a look at what they do (on both sides) on set pieces and just added that little bit to our general routine and (we’re) just (getting) ready to bring it.”
Bomar understands today’s match is just one of many in the conference.
“We know that, in the Big West, every game is a battle,” he said. “This is no longer preseason and this is where it counts. Every game that we’ve played so far leading up to Davis is going to be nowhere near as difficult as any game we play in the Big West.”
Garcia, a senior, is looking forward to all of the conference matches.
“It’s my last year, my last season,” he said. “I’m very excited with the direction the team’s going in right now.”
With UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and UC Santa Barbara leading the non-conference ranks, Garcia anticipates league play to be a tough challenge.
“It looks as if it is going to be a very competitive year in the Big West,” Garcia said. “There really is no weak team, not that there (ever was). But this year more than ever, everyone’s playing great games.”
