CSUN Hits Road Early for Soccer Showdown

Marwan Ass’ad, the Cal State Northridge soccer coach, brought his team here Tuesday as a precaution against fatigue going into tonight’s California Collegiate Athletic Assn. showdown with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“Anywhere else, we’d go up on the day of the game,” Ass’ad said. “But the school bus we take isn’t very comfortable. If you have a can of soda on the bus, you can’t drink it because it shakes so much. Your stomach will be in your head by the time you get there. We need more than two or three hours to get ready for this game.”

CSUN (14-1-1, 6-0-1), ranked No. 1 in Division II, is tied for the conference lead with 11th-ranked San Luis Obispo (10-3-2, 7-0-1). The teams tied, 2-2, in their first meeting Oct. 17 at CSUN.

Wolfgang Gartner, the San Luis Obispo coach, hopes the home-field advantage comes into play this time around.

“On our home field, somehow, we seem to have wings,” Gartner said. “It’s hard to describe. Our guys seem inexhaustible. I wouldn’t be surprised at any kind of outcome.”

This will be CSUN’s first game since its 8-0 whitewash of Bakersfield last Wednesday. The Matadors were scheduled to play Chapman last Sunday, but the game was postponed one week because of bad field conditions caused by rain and a football game Saturday night between CSUN and Santa Clara.

CSUN is led by senior Joey Kirk, who has 24 goals and 12 assists.

San Luis Obispo is coming off wins over Dominguez Hills and Pomona. The Mustangs are led by freshman Tim Hire, who has seven goals and two assists. The team’s best player, senior Dan Campbell, has been out because of a foot injury but is listed as probable for tonight’s game.

“This is by far the most critical conference game, simply because they’re the best they’ve ever been,” said Ass’ad, whose teams have won three CCAA titles in a row.

“We’re rested and ready for them. We have to prevent them from getting cheap goals like they did in the last game. If that happens, all we’ll need is one goal to win.”