United They Stand : Northridge on Verge of First Soccer Title After Divisive Start

The team had played only three games, but Steve Lazarus was convinced that his final season was doomed, victimized by bad timing.

The Cal State Northridge soccer team had picked his senior year to fall flat on its collective keister. And there was little he could do.

About the only thing Lazarus could hope for was that the contusion on his right hamstring would flare up. The injury was restricting the flow of blood to his leg and temporarily had forced him to the sidelines. Perhaps if the condition worsened he could cajole a doctor into diagnosing the bruise as “a season-ending injury” and he could plead his case to the NCAA for a redshirt year.

The truth, Coach Marwan Ass’ad said, was that Steve Lazarus, team captain, wanted to sit out in order to play his final season on a good team.

“I did say that,” Lazarus said. “You hate to admit that to other people, but I did. It wasn’t that I was down on the other guys as players, but we were so young. I said, ‘Look, I’m a senior and this team is only going to go so far. I’m only one guy, I’m not going to make that much of a difference.’ ”

As it turns out, Lazarus is a fine player but not a very good judge of potential. Youth has been served rather quickly, and CSUN is but a victory away from equaling its best finish in history.

The Matadors (17-7) play host to Oakland University of Rochester, Mich., at 7:30 tonight at North Campus Stadium in the Division II Final Four. The only CSUN team to advance further in the playoffs was last season’s squad, which lost in the championship game.

In the other semifinal, at 4:30 p.m., defending national champion Southern Connecticut State (19-4-3) will meet Florida Institute of Technology (13-6-0).

“Who would have guessed we were going to do this?” Lazarus said. “I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far.”

It has been a perilous journey by all accounts--one that tested the resolve of Ass’ad, a coach whose optimistic outlook rivals that of TV’s Mr. Rogers.

The way Ass’ad tells it, Northridge players acted like a group of spoiled, egotistical teen-agers (most of them are either 18 or 19) for much of the season.

They would not talk to each other. They pouted and lost interest in practice. Then, as practice became more competitive, they reverted to being combative away from the field.

“I’ve never got down on my players more in practice than I did this year,” said Ass’ad, in his sixth year at CSUN. “I have to ride them all the time.”

And plead with them as well.

“We had some problems right from the start. They were groupies,” Ass’ad said of his players. “It was, ‘I’m Mexican, you’re white.’ It was like, ‘Why should I be his friend? He’s my teammate, but we don’t have to be friends.’ I said, ‘Why not be his friend, man? And you, white kid, why don’t you initiate it? Why don’t you go say hi to him and talk to him?’

“Don’t just separate and say, ‘He doesn’t talk to me.’ ”

With Ass’ad’s urging, it was only a matter of time before conversation was flowing freely. But it took a bit longer for smooth exchanges to take place on the field.

At least there was a good excuse: CSUN had only 4 players back from the 1987 team. Of the 4, only 2 were starters--and they had been switched from defense to offense.

“We didn’t trust each other because we didn’t know each other,” said Ed Burns, a freshman defender from Van Nuys. “Last year’s team knew what to expect from each other. For us, it was like a discovery each game.”

Ass’ad tried to expedite the process with tough practices but found resistance from the players.

“To condition them to play 90 minutes with total concentration you have to make them practice for 2 hours with total concentration,” Ass’ad said. “We would play brilliantly for five minutes then relax for three minutes and get beat on a mistake.

“We were playing gutless games, emotionless games. Not for the whole game, but for a few minutes at a time we’d play without guts, emotion or hustle, and I can’t handle that.”

Eventually, practices got more intense. So much so the players again started bickering.

The process of drawing the team together emotionally and athletically was a slow one. Strangely, several players credit the team’s tepid start--CSUN won only 2 of its first 6 games--in helping them become more close-knit.

“Our team started to jell when people started to put us down,” said fullback Rick Iverson, a senior transfer from San Diego State. “A lot of guys on this team weren’t accustomed to losing. It made us mad--and more determined.”

Northridge hit rock bottom on Sept. 17, dropping a nonconference match to Seattle-Pacific that snapped a 41-match home unbeaten streak.

But, as Lazarus said, “Through adversity came unity.”

CSUN rebounded to win its next 4 matches, including a 2-0 upset of third-ranked Cal State Sacramento. Ass’ad, who had been juggling players, settled on a lineup and the Matadors took off.

Northridge takes a 6-match winning streak into tonight’s contest, including a 3-2 decision over Seattle-Pacific in overtime 2 weeks ago in Seattle. But its opponent tonight is hardly suffering from a cold spell. Second-ranked Oakland (17-2-3) has 9 wins and 3 ties in its past 12 games. Tonight’s match marks the Pioneers’ third Final Four appearance in 4 years.

Oakland’s top players are forward Sel Eren, who has 14 goals and 4 assists, and midfielder Earl Parris, who has 11 goals and 10 assists. Goalkeeper Ralph Torre gives up an average of only .63 goals a match and has 11 shutouts.

Northridge’s top scorer is midfielder Scott Piri, a redshirt freshman who has 11 goals and 6 assists. Lazarus, the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Player of the Year, is next with 10 goals and 6 assists.

In any event, after working so hard to overcome one another, the Matadors are hardly intimidated by another team.

“The last month and a half we’ve done better,” Ass’ad said. “The work is paying off. And we’re having fun, too. People are talking and laughing. We kick some . . . in practice, then go have fun together.”