Matadors Open Up Home Slate with a Pair of Weekend Matches

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

Following a two-game road trip to start the season, CSUN Women's Soccer (1-0-1) returns to Matador Soccer Field to kick off its home schedule beginning on Friday evening. The Matadors face North Dakota State in their 2016 home opener at 5 p.m. and conclude the weekend with a Sunday match versus South Dakota at 11 a.m. Friday's contest will be streamed live on the CSUN Sports Network through Big West.TV and live stats will be available for both matches. Also, the home opener is game one of a CSUN soccer doubleheader and will be followed by CSUN Men's Soccer's 2016 season opener against Tulsa at 7:30 p.m.

The Matadors went unbeaten in the team's first two matches last weekend as CSUN prevailed in its 2016 opener at Portland State, 1-0, on Friday and played to a draw at Oregon State, 1-1, on Sunday afternoon.

Competing in temperatures exceeding 110 degrees at field level, the Matadors utilized a late goal from senior midfielder Sylvia Trinh to earn a win in their season opener. Trinh teamed up with Taylor Hobson to score her first career goal and break a scoreless tie in the 79th minute against Portland State. In the match, the CSUN defense held the Vikings to five shots and only one shot after halftime. Junior Jovani McCaskill picked up two saves and notched her eighth career shutout for the Matadors.

Two days later, the Matadors and Beavers battled in a back-and-forth matchup over 110 minutes of play. CSUN wasted little time going in front as senior Camille Watson forced a Beaver turnover and scored her fourth career goal in the fifth minute on Sunday. The lead held up for the remainder of the first half until Oregon State's Nikki Farris headed in the equalizer after intermission. With the match squared at 1-1, both sides would be unable to break through for rest of the afternoon. Cynthia Sanchez had a shot on goal in the 97th minute but the OSU defense corralled the shot attempt. McCaskill recorded eight saves in the match including four in the two overtime periods to maintain the draw.

Through two contests, both Sanchez and Kourtney Kutscher have a team-leading five shots and four on goal apiece for the Matadors. Along with her goal on Sunday, Watson posted four shots combined in the two road matches while senior Taylor Hobson made her return to the field after missing the entire 2015 season and recorded four shots attempts as well.

Among the veteran lineup of the Matadors, redshirt freshmen Amanda Martin and Bret Guarino saw their first collegiate action on the field last weekend. Martin played signficant minutes on the backline and made her first CSUN start on Sunday against Oregon State. Guarino came off the bench in both matches and put a shot on goal at Portland State.

With the win over Portland State on Friday, the Matadors snapped a three-game losing streak in season openers. Also, the team claimed its first season-opening road victory in 11 seasons. With a 1-0-1 record, the Matadors are unbeaten through their first two matches for the first time since 2012.

CSUN is 11-8-2 all-time in home openers including a four-match winning streak in those games. The Matadors also have won eight of their last 10 home openers at Matador Soccer Field.

In the team's 21-year history, the Matadors have not faced North Dakota State or South Dakota. Of the nine teams in the Summit League currently, the Matadors have only met Denver in women's soccer with the last match taking place during the 2000 season. In addition to its opponents this weekend, CSUN squares off with four other opponents for the first time in program history this season including Ball State, Marquette, Oklahoma and the Summit League's Nebraska-Omaha.

A Closer Look at North Dakota State
The Bison went 1-1-0 last weekend to begin the 2016 season. North Dakota State dropped their home opener last Friday to Drake, 1-0, but bounced back with a 2-0 victory against Northern Iowa on Sunday. In 2015, the Bison finished 13-6-1 and posted a 7-0-1 record in league to play en route to winning the Summit League Regular Season Championship. The team came a win short of reaching the NCAA Tournament as the Bison fell in the conference tournament title game to South Dakota State last November.

Head coach Mark Cook owns a 38-34-3 record in his four seasons with North Dakota State. On the 27-woman roster, NDSU boasts 13 upperclassmen including 10 seniors.

Seniors Amy Yang and Autumn Muckenhirn netted goals in the Bison's home match against Northern Iowa. Yang finished with a team-best nine assists last season to go along with five goals. Senior midfielder Lauren Miller, who recorded an assist last Sunday, set a single-season school scoring record 18 goals last season en route to earning a Summit League Offensive Player of the Year award. In net, freshman Monica Polgar started both matches last weekend and allowed one goal combined while earning eight saves.

A Closer Look at South Dakota
Last weekend, the Coyotes (1-1-0) shut out Idaho, 1-0, in the their season opener but dropped a 1-0 decision to North Dakota on Sunday. South Dakota earned its first ever berth into the Summit League Tournament last season after the team went 8-12 overall and 5-3 in league play.

Now in her seventh season with the team, head coach Mandy Green has led the Coyotes to a 30-68-14 record. The team fields only nine upperclassmen this season including two seniors while the team has nine sophomores and nine freshmen on the roster.

Freshman Amanda Carpio netted her first career goal in the season-opening win over Idaho. Assisting Carpio on the goal, senior forward Corey Strang led the team in goals last season with 11 to go along with five assists. Three Coyote goalkeepers have seen action on the field already in 2016 with junior goalkeeper Sydney Hardin logging the most minutes with 97:22. Hardin allowed the only goal the team has surrendered this season while she has totaled four saves. Sophomore Parker Rytz has started both of the team's games in net, accumulating 90:00 on the field and six saves.

Matadors Open Up Home Slate with a Pair of Weekend Matches

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Players Mentioned

Bret Guarino

Taylor Hobson

Kourtney Kutscher

Amanda Martin

Jovani McCaskill

Cynthia Sanchez

Sylvia Trinh

Camille Watson