The awaited day is here. Kind of. The men's basketball team will have its first game of a 2008-09 season full of expectations tonight at 7 p.m. at the Matadome. The rival will be La Verne. Don't get too excited though, it's just an exhibition game.

UC Irvine is No. 3 in the Big West Conference standings, and probably on its way to the league's tournament. Northridge is last in the conference, and in all likelihood will not see a postseason.

So nice to be on the winning side of a heartbreak. It was the same story all over. The home team struck first with a goal. Next, in a very short span - not 10 seconds-short, though - the visitor scored two.

In their first exhibition contest of the 2008-09 season, the Cal State Northridge Matadors women's basketball team fell 81-72 to Love and Basketball Saturday afternoon at the Matadome.

Matador Moy Gomez, who was the men's soccer leading scorer before suffering a torn ACL in a home game against UC Riverside Oct. 5, will have season-ending surgery. He finishes the season with four goals. Gomez...