Northridge Soccer Team Gains Credibility in Loss : Matadors Play Division I Power UCLA on Even Terms Before Succumbing Late in Match, 2-1

UCLA versus Cal State Northridge cannot be considered a rivalry yet, but the Matadors took a big step Saturday night toward making it one.

Playing before 2,491 fans at North Campus Stadium in their annual season-opening soccer exhibition, the Bruins edged the Matadors, 2-1.

The score was in stark contrast to last year’s match when UCLA walloped Northridge, 4-0.

“We made them look human tonight,” Northridge Coach Marwan Ass’ad said of UCLA. “In the past they toyed with us. They used us as playthings. But tonight we gave them a game.”

Northridge, runner-up in the last two NCAA Division II championships, took a 1-0 lead on Keith Martin’s direct free kick at the 78:47 mark, but UCLA answered with two goals in the next 10 minutes for the win.

Kirk Ferguson, a junior forward from Stockton, accounted for both UCLA goals.

The winning goal came at the 88:32 mark when the Matador defense appeared to have a brief letdown after being whistled for a foul.

Tim Gallegos sensed the drop in Northridge’s intensity and fed Ferguson with a crossing pass in front of the Northridge net that goalkeeper Mike Littman had little chance of saving.

“They caught us on our heels for a brief second,” Ass’ad said. “We’ve got to learn that we can’t do that. We have to constantly be on our toes.”

UCLA, which tied Dominguez Hills, 1-1, in a exhibition match on Tuesday, tied the match at 1-1 less than two minutes after Martin’s score when Ferguson scored on a rebound of an Eric Page shot.

Littman had deflected Page’s attempt directly in front of the goal, but Ferguson was there to follow with a shot that Littman again deflected, but not hard enough to prevent it from rolling into the net.

“I don’t know what happened,” said team co-captain Martin. “We just seemed to have a letdown after we scored. It seemed like our goal pumped them up. They seemed to get energy from it and we seemed to be a little slow after that.”

Martin caught UCLA goalkeeper Anton Nisti cheating to score Northridge’s goal.

Decoying a crossing pass to teammate Matt Ziegler, Martin decided at the last second to fire away instead.

“Originally, I had no intention of taking the shot,” Martin said. “But as I approached the ball, I saw him starting to go to his right side. When I saw that, I just let it fly and I lucked out. It skipped off the grass and underneath him.”

Despite the loss, Ass’ad came away pleased with his team’s performance.

“Defensively, we’re way ahead of last year,” he said. “We played much more aggressively against them tonight than we did last year.”

Although the first half ended in a scoreless tie, UCLA outshot Northridge, 8-2, and had four excellent chances at scoring.

The best opportunity came when Gallegos got loose down the right sideline and fed Chris Roosen with a crossing pass that Littman dove to block at the 10-minute mark.