From June 11 to August 11, GoMatadors.com will present the top CSUN Moments from the 2024-25 sports season. Today, we celebrate CSUN's success "Outside the Lines" this season.
 

MATADOR ACHIEVE NUMBEROUS ACADEMIC ACCOLADES
CSUN would achieve a multitude of academic awards during the 2024-25 calendar year. A total of 123 CSUN student-athletes earned academic all-conference honors (Big West and MPSF) throughout the year with another 21 collecting academic all-district accolades from the College Sports Communicators. The Matadors also would be heavily represented on the 2024-25 Big West Commissioner's Honor Roll with 231 receiving recognition including 128 earning Highest Honors. 

The CSUN softball team would receive a program-record 18 Scholar-Athlete distinctions from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association while the women's water polo team placed 15 on the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-Academic Team and 10 women's tennis student-athletes earned Scholar-Athlete honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. 

On the team side, the men's volleyball team received Academic honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the women's soccer team garnered College Team Academic accolades from the United Soccer Coaches, the women's team earned ITA Team Academic honors and the women's water polo team collected ACWPC All-Academic awards.

MEN'S BASKETBALL SETS ATTENDANCE RECORD
The CSUN men's basketball team would have an historic 2024-25 season featuring a school record 22 wins on the campaign. Along with an impressive 10-3 record at Premier America Credit Union Arena, the Matadors would set a school record in home attendance on February 27 when CSUN took on first-place UC San Diego. A total of 2,298 fans packed the Premier America Credit Union Arena to cheer on the Matadors in a marquee Big West matchup. 

The 2,298 attendance mark surpassed the previous CSUN record established in the 2015-16 season of 2,156. Since the seat expansion in the arena in 2015, CSUN had reached the 2,000 attendance mark twice before the 2024-25 season. Along with the school record on February 27, the Matadors would surpass 2,000 fans in their final home game of the season against Hawai'i on March 8 (2,055). 

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BREAKS ATTENDANCE MARK ON EDUCATION DAY
The CSUN women's basketball team also received a record-breaking attendance in a Big West showdown with UC Santa Barbara on January 30. A total of 1,704 fans were in attendance at Premier America Credit Union Arena as the Matadors hosted Education Day. Several local schools packed the Matador home arena for the afternoon contest, bringing a raucous atmosphere to the event. The previous Matador women's basketball record was set on Nov. 21, 2019 when 1,606 fans were attendance for CSUN against Portland. 

CSUN HONORS 87 MVP'S AT MATADOR ATHLETIC EVENTS
CSUN hosted eight MVP (Most Valuable Professor) Days during the 2024-25 academic year. A total of 87 CSUN professors were honored for significantly impacting a student-athlete's academic journey, underscoring the deep connections beyond the classroom.
 
CSUN professors were honored in men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's volleyball, baseball, and softball.

CSUN HALL OF FAME RETURNS IN 2025
CSUN Athletics inducted its first Hall of Fame class in seven years on February 28, as three individuals and one team were honored at the Warner Center Marriott. With over 200 Matador friends and family in attendance, CSUN inducted Channon Fluker (Women's Basketball), Don Strametz (Track & Field/Cross Country head coach), Joseph Vaughn (Football) and the 1987 National Champion Softball Team. 

Fluker's decorated women's basketball career included two Big West Player of the Year, two Big West Defensive Player of the Year and four first-team All-Big West honors while she helped CSUN win the Big West Tournament title and advance to the NCAA Tournament in 2018. Strametz coached the men's track & field team for 26 seasons and both the women's track & field team and men's and women's cross country teams for 31 seasons each while he won an astounding 29 Coach of the Year awards and 21 conference championships. The 1987 CSUN softball team won the program's fourth NCAA Division II National Championship under the guidance of CSUN Hall of Fame coach Gary Torgeson as the team went 58-7 overall on the year. A two-year letterwinner from 1993-94, Vaughn because the first CSUN football player to earn Associated Press I-AA All-America First Team honors after tying the school record with nine interceptions in his senior season. 

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