NCAA Soccer Semifinals : Northridge Advances to Soccer Final; Lee Sparks 3-0 Victory Over Tampa

Thor Lee had nothing but problems two days ago, during a practice session with the Cal State Northridge soccer team. Try as he might, he just couldn’t get the hang of things offensively in a one-on-one drill with the goalie.

“Thor was falling on his face,” CSUN Coach Marwan Ass’ad said.

“It wasn’t a pretty sight,” Lee said.

Things are looking considerably better today--especially for Lee, who scored the decisive goal in CSUN’s 3-0 semifinal win over Tampa Saturday night in the NCAA Division II Final Four. The Matadors will play for the national championship tonight against Southern Connecticut State, a 1-0 winner Saturday over Missouri St. Louis.

“That’s what practice is for,” Lee said. “The thing I worked on was faking the first shot. I did that on the goal tonight and it worked.”

CSUN (19-1-1) stretched its win streak to eight games and its unbeaten streak to 14--both school records. The win also established a record for most victories in a season.

“There’s nothing to celebrate yet,” said Rodney Batt, who scored his 14th goal with three minutes left. “It’s the final that we want.”