Northridge, California - The Thunderbird soccer team dropped a tough game on the road Friday night, as Cal State-Northridge defeated SUU 2–0 with two second half goals at the Matador Soccer Field.

The loss will drop the Thunderbirds to 1–2 early on in the season, and the Matadors will improve their mark to 2–1.

“Soccer is the cruelest of all sports because it can be a close contest and you lose 2–0,” SUU head coach Becky Hogan said about the match. “We made one mental lapse and missed a marking assignment and they scored. We got a little soft defending at the top of the box and it leads to a sequence where a ball is shot, deflects off us and goes in the net.”

After playing the entire first 45 minutes to a scoreless draw, the first goal of the match came in the 56th minute, when CSUN forward Cynthia Sanchez put a shot in the back of the net giving the Matadors a 1–0 advantage.

The Matadors put their second and final goal on the board in the 82nd minute, when midfielder Kourtney Kutscher took a pass from forward Breanna McCallum to make the score 2–0.

Despite the loss, Hogan said she was pleased with how the team played.

“Today's game was an effort that I was extremely proud of and pleased with,” she said. “We looked very, very good for long stretches - especially in the first half.”

The Thunderbirds had two shots on goal in the match, one from forward Ally Thimsen and one from midfielder Shelby Green.

The Matadors outshot the T-Birds 20–7, giving plenty of save opportunities to SUU goalkeeper Taylor Bolding, who finished with six.

The Matadors committed a significant more number of fouls with 17, then SUU did with just one.