NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The road warrior Gaels continue their stretch of games away from Moraga, as they take on the CSUN Matadors on Wednesday, September 21 and play at Cal on Sunday, September 25.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (5-2) vs CSUN (3-2-1)
Wednesday, September 21 at 7:00 pm
Matador Soccer Field – Northridge, Calif.
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Saint Mary's (5-2) vs CAL (2-2-3)
Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 pm
Edwards Stadium – Berkeley, Calif.
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LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels won their fourth-straight game on Saturday night, defeating Cal Poly 1-0 in their second shutout of the season to improve to 5-2 on the year.
 
The Gaels scored when Riley Lynch passed to the middle of the field to Cade Cowan who quickly passed it to the left to Wade Muttitt, and the transfer from Feather River College put a right-footed shot into the upper right corner of the net over the leaping keeper from 12 yards out to put SMC up 1-0 in the 16th minute. It was Muttitts first goal as a Gael, Lynch's fourth assist of the season, and Cowan's second.
 
ABOUT CSUN
CSUN was picked seventh in the preseason Big West coaches' poll on Aug. 19. The Matadors received 47 points as UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine tied for first in the poll.
 
CSUN returns 13 letter winners from a year ago, including redshirt sophomore Jamar Ricketts who was named to the 2021 Big West Conference All-Freshman Team. He tied with Giovanni Aguilar for the team lead in goals scored with three. Ricketts was second on the squad in assists with two and points with eight. The New Jersey native took a team-high 33 shots and ranked seventh in the Big West in shots on goal (0.83) and 12th in the Big West in shots per game (1.84).
 
Redshirt sophomores Jordan Isibor and Arturo Reveles each scored two goals a year ago to tie for third on the squad.
 
Oscar Cardenas, a redshirt sophomore, appeared in all 18 matches, started 12 times, and played 1,062 minutes, the sixth most on the team. He recorded his lone assist of the season during the Oct. 20 Cal State Fullerton match. Cardenas took 15 shots, the fourth most on the club.
 
Redshirt sophomore goalie Cooper Wenzel started six of eight appearances in 2021. He went 2-4 with 27 saves and a 2.06 goals against average. He was named Big West Conference of the Week on Nov. 1, 2021, as he made five saves and charted an assist in the 2-0 victory over No. 30 UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 30, 2021.

CSUN has 19 newcomers to the roster for 2022, 11 of which have previous collegiate playing experience. Grad transfer Michael Mullins and junior Mamadou Diallo come to Northridge from NCAA Division I programs St. Joseph's (Pa.) and St. Francis (N.Y.) respectively.    
 
The Gaels are 4-5 all time against CSUN after winning last year's match up 3-1 in Moraga, Calif.
 
ABOUT CAL
Former Gaels assistant coach Leonard Griffin takes over as the head coach of the Bears, replacing Kevin Grimes who retired after leading Cal Men's Soccer for 22 seasons.
 
Among the key returners for the Bears are defenders Tate Dolan, Kevin Carmichael and Jack Singer; midfielders Christian Gomez, Juan Martinez and Evan Davila; and forwards Nate Carrasco, Shoei Honda and Wyatt Meyer. Davila led the Bears in scoring last season with eight points, while Singer, Honda and Meyer tied for the goal-scoring lead with three goals each.
 
There are six new Bears on the roster, including former San Francisco forward Nonso Adimabua – a two-time All-WCC first-team selection and the 2020-21 WCC Freshman of the Year – along with freshman attacking midfielder Allan Juarez, from the San Jose Earthquakes Academy.
 
Adimabua played his freshman year at USF under first-year Cal head coach Leonard Griffin. In the 2021 spring regular-season, he was named the WCC Freshman of the Year and named to the All-WCC first team after leading USF in points (11), goals (3) and assists (5). This year the United Soccer Coaches named him to its list of 30 forwards to watch this season.

In the fall of 2021, the Asaba, Nigeria, product led USF in points (11) and goals (5) and again earned All-WCC first-team status. In his sophomore season, Adimabua was named to the United Soccer Coaches West Region second team after he tied for third in shots on goal (17) in the WCC and finished fifth in shots (38), tied for fifth in goals and ninth in points in the conference.
 
SMC is 6-18-5 against Cal, but the Gaels won last year's meeting 1-0 at home.