Sophomore Willie Sims scored two goals for the second straight match and
senior Radames Lafaurie made six saves to register the Matadors' fourth
shutout of the season, as No. 28-ranked Cal State Northridge defeated
Cal State Fullerton, 3-0, at Matador Soccer Field on Saturday.
With the victory, the Matadors improve to 9-4-2 overall, 4-1-2 in Big
West play and 6-1-0 at home this season. The Titans drop to 4-9-2 overall
and 2-5-0 in league action.
The first half was highlighted by defense, as both teams' back lines,
as well as CSUN's Lafaurie and Cal State Fullerton's Sam Reynolds, stepped
up. Lafaurie had two stops on shots by Andrew Sam in the first half and
Reynolds came up big on an attempt by junior Alec de Mattos in the 41st
minute.
The Matadors were the first to break through in the 54th minute as Sims
scored his 14th of the season. Junior Gianni Facio fed a pass through
the Fullerton defense to Sims, who ran five yards, stopped and powered
a ball from 20 yards out into the right side of the net to make it 1-0.
Sims struck again in the 63rd minute to post the fifth two-goal match
of his season and the seventh of his career. After a shot by junior Daniel
Paladini was blocked by a Titan defender, Sims pounced on the rebound
and drove it into the back of the net for his 15th of the season and a
2-0 CSUN lead.
Senior Jesse Servin capped the scoring in the 84th minute on a one-time
shot from the top of the box off a nice pass from Facio. Sophomore Leon
Sharf also assisted on Servin's fifth of the season.
Lafaurie preserved the shutout, punching any and all free balls out of
the box and making two saves on shots by Jose Barragan in the second half.
Both teams put up 15 shots. Barragan led all players with six shots. Paladini
had a team-high three shots for the Matadors, who had nine players take
at least one shot. In goal, Reynolds made four saves for the Titans.
The Matadors, who are unbeaten in their last four and in nine of 10, will
travel to UC Santa Barbara for their next match on Tuesday. The battle
with the fifth-ranked Gauchos begins at 7 p.m. at Harder Stadium. Fullerton
closes out the home portion of the schedule next week with rescheduled
matches -- hosting UC Irvine on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and Cal Poly SLO
on Sunday at 4 p.m.
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