Northridge Eliminated in Soccer Regional

Robert Young accomplished in 45 minutes of soccer Saturday night at North Campus Stadium what only one team had managed to accomplish against Cal State Northridge this season.

The Cal State Hayward forward scored three second-half goals as the Pioneers upset Northridge, 4-1, in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II West regional final before a crowd of 1,627.

Young, a sophomore, took three of Hayward’s four shots in the second half and made all of them count.

It was the first time he had scored three times in a match this season. Marwan Ass’ad, Northridge’s coach, couldn’t remember an opponent ever scoring a hat trick against the Matadors.

Westmont had been the only team to score as many as three goals in a game against the Matadors this season.

Young, who came in with a team-high 10 goals, scored twice in the last 10 minutes on breakaways.

His first goal, the game-winner, put Hayward ahead, 2-0, two minutes into the second half when he headed in a shot off a side kick by Ignacio Navarrete.

“That was a big goal for our team,” Young said. “Even though we were ahead, 1-0, at halftime, we were still unsure if we could pull it off.”

With good reason.

This is Hayward’s eighth trip to the playoffs and only its second win. The first came last week, a 2-1 decision over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in first-round action.

Northridge (10-5-4), which received a bye into the regional final after winning its sixth consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship, will miss taking part in the Final Four for the first time in three seasons.

“They totally outplayed us,” Ass’ad said with a trace of envy. “They moved the ball better, they outquicked us and they played better as a team. They were better than we were.”

Hayward (17-5-1), champion of the Northern California Athletic Conference, made that clear from the outset.

The Pioneers outshot Northridge, 9-2, in the first half.

“They were playing right into our strength, hitting long balls,” said Hayward Coach Colin Lindores.

Northridge’s only score came with 11:10 to play when forward Scott Piri booted in a rebound after a shot by Billy Durkin hit the goal post.

The goal cut Hayward’s lead to 2-1 and swung the momentum in favor of the Matadors before Young retaliated less than five minutes later by beating Northridge goalie Mike Littman on a breakaway.

Six minutes later, he did it again--his second unassisted goal of the night.