Cal State Bakersfield ends CSUN’s unbeaten run at home
CSUN men’s soccer struggled offensively on Saturday night, unable to convert on several opportunities on goal despite controlling possession throughout the match. The Roadrunners’ timely counter attacks proved to be the difference in this Big West showdown held at Matador Soccer Field.
Heading into this game, both CSUN (6-2-3, 1-1-0 Big West) and Cal State Bakersfield (CSUB), (2-7-1, 2-0-0 Big West) came from winning their conference openers midweek.
The Matadors, under head coach Terry Davila, have been impenetrable on defense all season long, allowing only four goals. A huge part of that success has been defender Siddiq Lezzar who spoke after the loss about the team’s performance.
“We try to match their intensity. At some moments they beat us, some moments we beat them,” Davila said. “Unfortunately, we got cracked down just off a bad pass, a miscommunication in the back. We’ll keep our head up and go into the next one with strong ambition.”
Lezzar, in 11 games for the Matadors, has accumulated over 900 minutes of play this season.
Midfielders Zack Harris and Justin Sosa kept battling with the opposition. The game got chippy as the Roadrunners tallied 24 fouls in the match opposed to the Matador’s eight.
Sosa spoke about intensity as both teams fought 50-50 balls in the midfield trying to create that breakthrough in the final third.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we did. We had a lot of back-and-forth. The whole game never really used the possession of the ball to our favor,” Sosa said. “We couldn’t dominate the game the way we wanted it to, and that’s where we lacked today.”
Despite the loss, CSUN is currently in fourth place in the Big West Conference behind UC Santa Barbara, CSUB and Cal Poly.
The Matadors will host Sacramento State on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at Matador Soccer Field to complete a challenging week. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Shortly thereafter, CSUN will hit the road and face UC Davis on Oct.11 and UC Irvine days later on Oct.15 as they look to climb the Big West standings.