Matadors Open Big West Play Against Bakersfield, Closes Homestand Against SDSU

Wednesday, September 30

Northridge, Calif

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

Cal State Bakersfield

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Photo by: Chuck Marvel

Matadors Open Big West Play Against Bakersfield, Closes Homestand Against SDSU

9/29/2026 12:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer

GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. ---The CSUN men's soccer team (3-4-1) opens Big West play with a showdown against the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-2-2), Wednesday night at Matador Soccer Field. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan and Gio Galvez will be on the call.

On Sunday night, CSUN will close out the four game homestand with a contest against San Diego State (2-5-3), 7:00 p.m. at Matador Soccer Field. Fans can follow live stats on GoMatadors.com

FOR STARTERS
CSUN's record of 3-3-1 places it sixth in the Big West. The Matadors have wins over Pacific, The Master's University and Oral Roberts University, while earning a 2-2 draw with Houston Christian. The Matadors have two wins at home and one win on the road, a 3-1 victory over Pacific on Sept. 13.

This game against the Roadrunners is the third of four consecutive games at home, the longest home stretch of the season. CSUN dropped the first two games of the homestand. On Sept. 17, it fell 1-0 to San Jose State, and most recently on Sept. 20, CSUN suffered a 2-1 loss to Grand Canyon.

LAST TIME OUT
CSUN fell to GCU by a score of 2-1. Jorge Solorzano scored his first goal of the season in the defeat. Solorzano scored the opening goal in the 23rd minute, but GCU rallied to score the next two on its way to sealing the victory.

Both teams went back and forth with possession slightly favoring the Matadors in the game's first 22 minutes. A free kick deep in GCU's territory led Solorzano to attempt a shot right outside the top of the box. The senior midfielder from Palmdale connected on the free kick, a shot with his right foot that went past the Lopes' goalkeeper on the upper right side, giving CSUN an early 1-0 lead.

CSUN held onto the lead much into the first half, but GCU had a late push in the half's closing minutes, attempting five shots with just four minutes left to play before intermission. On the fifth attempt, the Lopes connected. A strike from Arnau Camaño evened the scoring in the 44th minute. The Lopes broke free in the 80th minute when Felix Oberwaditzer scored off an assist from João Gonçalinho. It was a low-right strike past the diving Drucks to make it 2-1 in favor of GCU.

CONSISTENCY IN THE STARTING LINEUP
Coach Terry Davila has run the same starting lineup for six out of the team's first eight games. Dorian Drucks, Sebastian Fuentes, Justin Sosa, Daniel Garcia, Tito Oyewo, Jorge Solorzano, Kayvon Monfared, Adrian Jones and Messiah Antwi have all played and started in the team's eight games played.

By comparison, CSUN ran out 11 different starting lineups in the 2025 campaign. It seems that Coach Davila and his staff are confident in their set pieces and rotations as they look to create consistency heading into Big West play.

IMPROVED SCORING IN 2026
CSUN had trouble finding the back of the net in 2025, netting only 11 goals throughout the entire season. With nine games left to play, CSUN has already eclipsed the 11 goals bar set last year, as the Matadors have 13 goals through the team's first eight games.

The Matadors are second in the Big West in goals scored, right behind UC Irvine who has netted 15 goals on the season. A big reason why is newcomer forward Kayvon Monfared, who is currently tied for sixth in the conference with three goals scored on the year. He had a brace in his home debut against The Master's University on Aug. 27. It was the first time a Matador had registered two goals in one night since Deryk Jones Jr. scored two at UCSB on Oct. 23, 2024. The senior from Anaheim Hills leads the team in points and shots as well.

Tito Oyewo is second on the team in goals scored with two. The scoring has been shared all around though, as eight other Matadors have found the back of the net.

SCOUTING CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
CSUB is currently 3-2-2 on the season, however the Roadrunners have won two in a row. They are second to last in the Big West in goals scored with 10, and last in assists with nine. However, they allow the second fewest goals in the conference with nine.

CSUB's three wins have come against Utah Tech, Cal Poly and the University of San Francisco.

The Roadrunners have a clear offensive leader from the pack, and his name is Oshea Foster. Foster has four goals on the season with 22 shots (fifth in the Big West). The offense runs through the Pasadena native.
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Five different players have started and played in all seven games. The Roadrunners' goalkeepers have both played four games each with nine saves apiece.

SERIES HISTORY
CSUN currently holds a 25-4-2 record against CSUB all time. However, the Roadrunners have the Matadors' number as of late, as CSUN has fallen in three straight games. The last CSUN win came in a 2-0 decision in October of 2022.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs are currently 2-5-3 on the season but are currently on a four-game losing streak. SDSU has wins against Life Pacific and Sacramento State.

SDSU has recorded 17 goals on the season but has also allowed 17 goals on the defensive end. SDSU is tied atop of the Pac-12 standings in goals scored. The Aztecs also attempt the most shots out of anyone in the conference with 117 strikes in their 10 games.

The Aztecs' leading goal scorer Nik Orth has five goals and 12 points on 20 shots so far this season.

Gio Aguirre, Jaxson Hutcheon, and Lucas Caffo all have two goals scored as well.

This is the first game played between these two schools as part of the Big West-Pac12 partnership that was agreed upon earlier this season.

SERIES HISTORY
CSUN is currently 13-9-2 all-time against SDSU. The last time these two played was in August of 2022, where CSUN won 2-1 at home.