California State University Northridge Athletics
CSUN Men’s Soccer - A Program Built on Grit and Love of the Game
2/12/2026 1:01:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The CSUN men's soccer program has had a rich history in Northridge. The Matadors have 11 conference titles, seven division-1 championship berths, and overall has finished with over 100 more wins than losses during the time they have been recognized as a collegiate sport. They have also had nine players selected in the MLS Draft in their history.
However, CSUN didn't always have the foundation that it has today.
In 1973, CSUN soccer was merely just a recreational sport. A sport played during P.E. class on campus. There was no team, there were no coaches, no accolades, only college students looking to get exercise between classes.
Enter Shad Rezai, an engineering student at CSUN who was one of the students playing soccer during that P.E. class. One day Shad asked one of his fellow classmates if they could start playing some organized soccer. His mate responded with an action question: "Well, why don't you get it started?"
All of the soccer playing P.E. students got together one day to hold a meeting regarding starting a team. The beginnings of the CSUN soccer team were in the works. A club team was being formed and an ad was posted in the Sundial, CSUN's student newspaper, advertising tryouts for the newly formed team. First practice was to be held at the on campus field on Zelzah St. Much like in the famous movie Field of Dreams with the tagline "If you build it, they will come." People started showing up to practice and a team began to come together.
There turned out to be a lot of interest in people joining the team. The Zelzah field attracted onlookers. People started seeing the team practice, and more and more people seemed interested in joining.
Enter a man by the name of Zvi Friedman. Friedman started watching the practices day after day and finally after one practice, he approached the players. "You guys are disorganized." Friedman said. "You need a coach." Before Friedman, the team was merely just guys who practiced during off school hours. However, Friedman had connections. He introduced Rezai to the club league officials. Those officials had meetings at Woodbury University at that time to establish a league.
A club league was then formed and CSUN had its first club season in 1974. Playing teams like LA City College, UC Riverside, Chapman, UNLV and LA Baptist. "It was hard to set up a schedule and times to practice during the week," said Rezai. "It was a lot to ask of our classmates to commit to all these practice games and league games."
What Rezai and Friedman didn't take into account when starting the team, is accomplishing all of the little things that go into building a team. They had to borrow football jerseys in order to play. In their off time, they built nets and bought their own balls in order to host teams at Northridge during league play. They received some funding from the Student Association but initially had to pay referees and manage travel expenses themselves. When they traveled to different schools, it was every man for themselves on how to get there. Now-a-days, there is a team bus, there is prepared food, there are hotels that are already booked for the players. There was none of that in the beginning.
"We were a scrappy bunch." Rezai said. "We had to make sure everyone had the proper uniform,that if guys didn't have a ride, they would be picked up." He continued. "However, most of our guys were dedicated and showed up on time."
During an indoor tournament, the team had to use its own lumber to build indoor goal posts. It showed that another aspect was for the love of the game. "It was the love of the game and being together." Rezai said.
Mehrdad Kanafchian, a player for one of CSUN's earliest teams, recalls the struggles of putting together the resources to compete.
"CSUN had football, baseball, basketball and track and field varsity teams but soccer was the new kid on the block with no varsity designation. " Kanafchian said. "We were a rag tag group of players from many corners of the world. As our first match approached, I remember that we begged the athletic department to buy us or give us a kit worthy of representing the university , finally they let us have the football team's XXL sized training jerseys with the large 2 digits numbers imprinted on them. That is what we had to work with."
Rezai and Kanafchian recall one of their favorite memories was playing a match against No.1 UCLA, a powerhouse men's soccer program. The match was tied 3-3 at the end of regular time. Before the players got off the field, the UCLA coach went to the referee and said, let's play overtime. CSUN ended up scoring in overtime and winning 4-3, in front of a raucous CSUN crowd.
Center back Mauricio B. Edberg, who played on the team for three seasons, recalls the UCLA game as being a top highlight for himself and the program.
"The UCLA game was special. It was played at the CSUN stadium, which usually was reserved for the football team only. It was called Devonshire Downs." Edberg said. "That was cool, but playing the top ranked team in the nation was great recognition for us and we felt it would put us on the map. It was a hard-fought physical game which ended in a 3-3 tie. We felt terrific, but the UCLA coach did not." He continued. "He was very upset that it would hurt his national rankings and demanded that we play overtime. Our coach, and foundational leader Zvi Friedman brought us all together to see how we felt. We all unanimously said yes let's play overtime. A game that will forever be pivotal in the recognition of our soccer club's efforts and skills."
What stands out from the players of those early CSUN teams is the friendships they still hold to this day. Players on those teams bonded from all the hard work they put in to make the CSUN soccer dream a reality. Players on those teams had very diverse backgrounds, but came together to play a sport that they love. There were over 13 different countries represented on the team in 1976.
It's been over 50 years, but these players still get together for reunions, even to this day.
"On a personal level, when one is young, we don't really think about our legacy a lot." But now 50 years have passed, we always look back at the memories." Edberg said. "They were sure fun and so rewarding. The team has held several reunions over the years. It is always amazing to feel like one is picking up right where we were so many years ago. Great friendships, memories and satisfaction after all these years." He concluded.
CSUN men's soccer began its official first season as a recognized sport in 1978 and the rest as they say, is history. What started as a team that could barely afford jerseys, is now a fully-fledged Division 1 mainstay in the Big West Conference.
The CSUN men's soccer team will begin its 48th season in 2026. Even though those early teams didn't benefit from the luxuries that today's team has, "we still felt great and most of all know that we were the pioneers that laid the foundation for that to happen for future students of the game to enjoy." Edberg said.
However, CSUN didn't always have the foundation that it has today.
In 1973, CSUN soccer was merely just a recreational sport. A sport played during P.E. class on campus. There was no team, there were no coaches, no accolades, only college students looking to get exercise between classes.
Enter Shad Rezai, an engineering student at CSUN who was one of the students playing soccer during that P.E. class. One day Shad asked one of his fellow classmates if they could start playing some organized soccer. His mate responded with an action question: "Well, why don't you get it started?"
All of the soccer playing P.E. students got together one day to hold a meeting regarding starting a team. The beginnings of the CSUN soccer team were in the works. A club team was being formed and an ad was posted in the Sundial, CSUN's student newspaper, advertising tryouts for the newly formed team. First practice was to be held at the on campus field on Zelzah St. Much like in the famous movie Field of Dreams with the tagline "If you build it, they will come." People started showing up to practice and a team began to come together.
There turned out to be a lot of interest in people joining the team. The Zelzah field attracted onlookers. People started seeing the team practice, and more and more people seemed interested in joining.
Enter a man by the name of Zvi Friedman. Friedman started watching the practices day after day and finally after one practice, he approached the players. "You guys are disorganized." Friedman said. "You need a coach." Before Friedman, the team was merely just guys who practiced during off school hours. However, Friedman had connections. He introduced Rezai to the club league officials. Those officials had meetings at Woodbury University at that time to establish a league.
A club league was then formed and CSUN had its first club season in 1974. Playing teams like LA City College, UC Riverside, Chapman, UNLV and LA Baptist. "It was hard to set up a schedule and times to practice during the week," said Rezai. "It was a lot to ask of our classmates to commit to all these practice games and league games."
What Rezai and Friedman didn't take into account when starting the team, is accomplishing all of the little things that go into building a team. They had to borrow football jerseys in order to play. In their off time, they built nets and bought their own balls in order to host teams at Northridge during league play. They received some funding from the Student Association but initially had to pay referees and manage travel expenses themselves. When they traveled to different schools, it was every man for themselves on how to get there. Now-a-days, there is a team bus, there is prepared food, there are hotels that are already booked for the players. There was none of that in the beginning.
"We were a scrappy bunch." Rezai said. "We had to make sure everyone had the proper uniform,that if guys didn't have a ride, they would be picked up." He continued. "However, most of our guys were dedicated and showed up on time."
During an indoor tournament, the team had to use its own lumber to build indoor goal posts. It showed that another aspect was for the love of the game. "It was the love of the game and being together." Rezai said.
Mehrdad Kanafchian, a player for one of CSUN's earliest teams, recalls the struggles of putting together the resources to compete.
"CSUN had football, baseball, basketball and track and field varsity teams but soccer was the new kid on the block with no varsity designation. " Kanafchian said. "We were a rag tag group of players from many corners of the world. As our first match approached, I remember that we begged the athletic department to buy us or give us a kit worthy of representing the university , finally they let us have the football team's XXL sized training jerseys with the large 2 digits numbers imprinted on them. That is what we had to work with."
Rezai and Kanafchian recall one of their favorite memories was playing a match against No.1 UCLA, a powerhouse men's soccer program. The match was tied 3-3 at the end of regular time. Before the players got off the field, the UCLA coach went to the referee and said, let's play overtime. CSUN ended up scoring in overtime and winning 4-3, in front of a raucous CSUN crowd.
Center back Mauricio B. Edberg, who played on the team for three seasons, recalls the UCLA game as being a top highlight for himself and the program.
"The UCLA game was special. It was played at the CSUN stadium, which usually was reserved for the football team only. It was called Devonshire Downs." Edberg said. "That was cool, but playing the top ranked team in the nation was great recognition for us and we felt it would put us on the map. It was a hard-fought physical game which ended in a 3-3 tie. We felt terrific, but the UCLA coach did not." He continued. "He was very upset that it would hurt his national rankings and demanded that we play overtime. Our coach, and foundational leader Zvi Friedman brought us all together to see how we felt. We all unanimously said yes let's play overtime. A game that will forever be pivotal in the recognition of our soccer club's efforts and skills."
What stands out from the players of those early CSUN teams is the friendships they still hold to this day. Players on those teams bonded from all the hard work they put in to make the CSUN soccer dream a reality. Players on those teams had very diverse backgrounds, but came together to play a sport that they love. There were over 13 different countries represented on the team in 1976.
It's been over 50 years, but these players still get together for reunions, even to this day.
"On a personal level, when one is young, we don't really think about our legacy a lot." But now 50 years have passed, we always look back at the memories." Edberg said. "They were sure fun and so rewarding. The team has held several reunions over the years. It is always amazing to feel like one is picking up right where we were so many years ago. Great friendships, memories and satisfaction after all these years." He concluded.
CSUN men's soccer began its official first season as a recognized sport in 1978 and the rest as they say, is history. What started as a team that could barely afford jerseys, is now a fully-fledged Division 1 mainstay in the Big West Conference.
The CSUN men's soccer team will begin its 48th season in 2026. Even though those early teams didn't benefit from the luxuries that today's team has, "we still felt great and most of all know that we were the pioneers that laid the foundation for that to happen for future students of the game to enjoy." Edberg said.
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