Northridge Women Prepared for Kickoff

The Cal State Northridge women’s soccer team will open preseason practice for its third season Aug. 14 with fierce competition for starting positions and financial reward.

Four starters from last year’s team have left the Matadors in the past several months, allowing Coach Brian Wiesner to increase the scholarships of several remaining players and hold two scholarships open to be awarded to walk-ons later this month.

Defender Kristi Tynan quit the team over disagreements with Wiesner and defender Marrica Pichaikul and midfielder Jera Sanneman are academically ineligible for the 1997 season. Forward Rhiannon Clow has left school, Wiesner said.

Nancy James, a scholarship athlete who split her time between soccer and track, won the 1997 Big Sky Conference indoor title in the 800 meters and will compete only in track.

Wiesner said the attrition can be partially attributed to the situation that existed when the players were recruited.

“That’s the nature of a brand new program,” Wiesner said. “We had to take people who could help us right away. Maybe they weren’t prepared for the academic challenges. Now that we have more of a foundation to our program we can go out and be a little more choosy who we recruit.”

Wiesner expects to have 35 players in camp and will pare that to a 25-woman roster, about 15 of whom will divide the program’s $83,700 in scholarships.

Northridge, 4-15-1 last season, will be one of six teams in the first-year Big Sky Conference.

“The people coming back have a lot of experience and a lot of it’s losing,” said Wiesner, whose teams are 12-24-4 in two seasons as a Division I independent. “They’ve made commitments to each other and the school. They’re tired of getting beat.”