CSUN Hosts Southern Utah and New Mexico State in Weekend Matches

Full PDF Release

CSUN Women's Soccer (1-1) returns to the field for a pair of weekend matches at Matador Soccer Field beginning on Friday night. The Matadors first host Southern Utah (1-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday followed by a Sunday contest against visiting New Mexico State (0-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday's matchup is game one of a CSUN soccer doubleheader at Matador Soccer Field, as CSUN Men's Soccer hosts Loyola-Chicago in its home opener starting at 6 p.m.

The Matadors began the 2015 season by splitting their first two games last weekend. In its opener, CSUN dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker at Pepperdine in overtime. After nearly hitting the back of the net on several occasions during the match in regulation, the Matadors and Waves went into overtime squared at 0-0. Minutes into the extra period, the Waves capitalized on a Matador foul inside the Pepperdine box, resulting in the deciding goal off a penalty kick.

CSUN rebounded resoundingly, however, just 48 hours later, pulling off a 3-0 victory over Portland State in its home opener. Sophomore Destinney Duron headed in her first career goal to break a scoreless tie in the 38^th minute. Just after halftime, junior Kourtney Kutscher joined Duron, notching her first collegiate goal off a free kick to double the lead. Later in the second half, the Matadors added another insurance goal, as Duron assisted Cynthia Sanchez on a score to build the lead to 3-0.

In net, Jovani McCaskill kept the Vikings off the scoreboard for 90:00 minutes, totaling four saves along the way en route to earning her sixth career shutout.

CSUN continues its three-game homestand with contests against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds and the New Mexico State Aggies. The Matadors have little history competing against both programs, as the Thunderbirds have faced the Matadors only once before while the Aggies have never squared off with CSUN. The Matadors earned a 5-2 victory over Southern Utah in August 2008 at Matador Soccer Field.

Southern Utah is 1-1 in the early going this season after splitting both of its games at the UNLV tournament in Las Vegas. SUU dropped a 2-1 decision to North Texas and defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 3-1, last Sunday. The Thunderbirds went 7-7-3 last season including going 4-4-2 in Big Sky Conference, just falling one point shy of qualifying for postseason play.

SUU freshman Paige Robins has two goals and an assist, totaling five points through the first two games. Robins scored a goal in each of SUU's contests and she has registered all four of her total shots on goal. Ally Thimsen scored twice to help lead SUU to victory over TA&M-CC including netting a penalty kick.

The Aggies are 0-2 in the young season after falling to New Mexico on Wednesday. New Mexico State travels to face the Idaho Vandals on Friday night before facing off with the Matadors on Sunday afternoon. Last season, the Aggies advanced to the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament but fell to the top seeded Seattle University Redhawks.

New Mexico State dropped its 2015 opener at home to Eastern Washington in double overtime 2-1 and lost 1-0 to New Mexico. Aileen Galicia registered a goal in the opener and fellow freshman Sabrina Ruiz earned an assist on the goal.

CSUN Hosts Southern Utah and New Mexico State in Weekend Matches

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Destinney Duron

Kourtney Kutscher

Jovani McCaskill

Cynthia Sanchez

California State University Northridge Athletics