CSUN Drops Exhibition Match to Santa Clara

Saturday, August 13

Northridge, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Santa Clara

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Santa Clara	1	1	2
CSUN	0	0	0

Photo by: Will Navarro

CSUN Drops Exhibition Match to Santa Clara

8/13/2022 9:43:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Women's Soccer gave No. 5 Santa Clara a tight battle for 90 full minutes but would fall short 2-0 in an exhibition match on Saturday at Matador Soccer Field. Freshman goalkeeper Hayden Mauldin played the full time in goal and was credited with three saves. Cindy Arteaga tallied three of the Matadors' eight shots on the night. The teams played three 30-minute periods in the contest with the Broncos scoring a goal in the first and third periods.

Santa Clara came out quickly applying pressure with five shot attempts in the first 10 minutes. CSUN though withstood the early barrage and created offensive attacks of its own minutes later. Yoshi Rubalcava took the Matadors' first shot attempt in the 11th minute, which was followed by a shot on goal from Kacie Garrity.

The Broncos would strike first in the 27th minute though following a CSUN foul. On the free kick, Karen Goor sent the ball right to left near the far net where Alyssa Bourgeois gave a one touch pass to Izzy D'Aquila for a goal from less than eight yards out.

Shortly after an intermission, CSUN came out as the aggressors and found one of its best look of the night on an attempt from Cindy Arteaga from the middle of the box. However, Felicity Baker would make a save by knocking the ball out bounds.

Mauldin gave the Matadors strong work in front of the net throughout the night. She made one of her three saves in the 43rd minute on a shot from Riley Burrill while she stayed active on corner kicks and loose balls through the box. After an easy save on a long distance shot from Farrah Walters, Mauldin made a leaping save by smacking a Lucy Mitchell shot over the top crossbar.

CSUN nearly squared the game in the 70th minute on a set piece. Off a corner kick, Riley Goossen-Brown came away with the ball in traffic and fired at the right corner of the goal but hit the post, just missing the netting by inches.

The game remained 1-0 until the 86th minute when Santa Clara took advantage of a set piece of its own. After earning a corner kick, Nicole Sweeney set up Kelsey Oen with a nicely placed pass to the center of the box where Oen finished on one touch.

GAME NOTES
A total of 14 newcomers played for the Matadors in the match, 12 of which were freshmen. The freshmen quartet of Hayden Mauldin, Stevie Reynolds, Yoshi Rubalcava and Sami Kolin started the match.

Santa Clara outshot the Matadors 19-8 in the match and 5-2 in shots on goal. Nine corner kicks were taken in the match with the Broncos holding a narrow 5-4 edge. A total of 25 fouls were committed as CSUN had 13 and Santa Clara finished with 12.

ACCORDING TO COACH CHRISTINE JOHNSON
"Kudos to Santa Clara. They are very good and very much earning of their current ranking. They possess the ball, they're quick under pressure and they are very difficult to deal with, but I thought we responded well. Our returners knew what to expect. We played several ranked teams last year and they knew what to expect. For our newcomers, they did a good job of handling the pressure, staying composed and sticking to the core concepts that we introduced to them.

Hayden played unbelievably. It was actually clinical and fun to watch. I think when we recruited Hayden, we knew she had the potential. Now seeing her under pressure and performing is pretty special. She is just growing and I think we only got a snippet of what she is capable of. I'm pretty excited to see how she progresses."

UP NEXT
CSUN kicks off the 2022 regular season on Thursday afternoon against No. 17 Pepperdine at 3 p.m. The game will stream via the WCC Network.

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