UCLA Edges Punchless Northridge in Soccer Exhibition

UCLA goalie Anton Nistl crouched in front of the net during the second half of Friday night’s exhibition soccer game between the Bruins and Cal State Northridge and readied himself for a Matador offensive he was sure was just seconds away.

“Every year we play them, it’s the same,” Nistl said. “We play and play and play and they always come back.”

Not this year. When CSUN fullback Andy Torres’ shot from about 20 yards out sailed over the goal with 30 seconds left in the match, the Bruins had secured a 1-0 win before a crowd of 3,100 at CSUN’s North Campus Stadium.

UCLA won the match on a goal by Peter Pelle 23:22 into the game. A year ago, the teams played to a 1-1 tie.

Forward Chris Roosen initiated the scoring play with a corner kick from the right side. The ball floated above and past the goal mouth where defender John Purzycki, who played at Crespi, headed the ball back in front of the goal. Pelle dove toward the pass and headed the ball into the right corner of the net.

“It was a well-executed set play,” Pelle said. “We work on that play a lot in practice. It was a great cross and a perfect knock-back. My job was easy.”

Too easy, as far as the Matadors were concerned.

“I knew they were working some kind of play,” Matador forward Joey Kirk said. “Our goalie got suckered and so did the rest of us. We just left a wide-open net.”

Conspicuously absent from Friday night’s game was the usually wide-open Matador attack.

“We didn’t play the first half,” CSUN Coach Marwan Ass’ad said. “It was embarrassing.

“We have to make our plan clearer. That’s the great thing about playing UCLA. You find out fast what you need to work on.”

The first order of business will be the CSUN passing attack that wasn’t very effective against the Bruins. The Matadors were unable to get the ball from their midfielders to Kirk or forward Rodney Batt without a Bruin defender stealing the pass.

“Our midfielders tried to play short, but our style is to get the forwards the ball,” Ass’ad said. “All we did was turn the ball over. It’s the first game, so I’m confident we’ll come around.”

CSUN took only two shots in the first half. The Matadors didn’t manage their first shot on goal until the game was more than 33 minutes old, when junior Mark Zarkowski’s attempt sailed over the goal.

The Matadors’ best opportunity came 13 seconds later when Mike Harvey streaked toward the net through the penalty area and took a pass from Kirk on the right side. But Harvey’s attempt from about six feet out rolled wide to the

The Matadors picked things up in the second half but couldn’t convert any of their seven shots on goal. The few times the Matadors did threaten, they were thwarted by Nistl, who had a goals-against average of 0.53 last season.

Northridge goalie Mike Caputo also played well, recording five saves.

“We were running around playing too much defense,” Kirk said. “We had four good chances in the second half. We just didn’t put it away.”

UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid said he expected the game to be low scoring but, like everyone else, he expected more offense from the Matadors.

“They looked dangerous at times,” Schmid said. “But we were able to stay back and defend. I’m sure both teams are going to get better as the season progresses.”

Said Ass’ad: “We need to get in better shape and work on our tactics, but I think we’ll be fine.”

CSUN, which will be trying to win its fourth straight California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title, officially opens its season next Saturday at home against San Diego State. UCLA opens its season Tuesday against Westmont.