California State University, Northridge’s Cooper Wenzel recorded four saves on his way to his second shutout of the season Saturday night as CSUN and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley played to a 0-0 tie in men’s soccer action at Matador Soccer Field.

Wenzel was busy early as he turned away Jan Engles 1:47 into the first half. Jack Rhead recorded the first CSUN attempt in the 11th minute, going wide left. A little over four minutes later, Jamar Ricketts saw his effort saved by Alexis Gonzalez. Jason Robles shot from mid-range at 17:26 was saved by Wenzel. Raul Carrillo posted the final attempt (going wide left) of the first half two minutes later.

Rhead had a wide-open look five minutes into the second half. Rhead would end up seeing the ball go off the Vaquero’s crossbar. Three minutes later Wenzel saved Yusuf Cueceglu’s shot. UTRGV maintained possession which resulted in Carrillo’s short attempt being blocked by the CSUN defense. The teams exchanged shots and saves in the 58th minute before the Matadors threatened in the 60th.

Bryan Bustamante‘s shot was saved by Gonzalez, the ball came back out to Rhead who put the ball on the net and was turned back by Gonzalez. The play was primarily conducted in the midfield over the next 17 minutes before Tristan Singh went wide left for UTRGV. At the 85:31 mark, Oscar Cardenas went wide right, 1:19 later Sahar Ohayon was also wide right with his effort. The final shot of the night was Rhead going high with 1:12 remaining.

“We defended well tonight. Cooper got the shutout tonight and has given up only one goal over the last two games which show he is resilient,” CSUN head coach Terry Davila said. “We outshot them and defended well. Very rarely did they get a clean look at our goal. We need to go back and get ready to play in the Big West. Every game is hard, and you never know what is going to happen.” 

The Stats

The Matadors outshot the Vaqueros 9-7, 7-4 in the second half…both teams recorded four shots on goal…UTRGV posted six corner kicks, compared to three for the Matadors…Gonzalez made four saves…UTRGV held a 56-44 advantage in possession…CSUN was whistled for 14 fouls and four yellow cards…UTRGV was booked for seven fouls and two yellow cards. 

Notes
Saturday was the first match between CSUN and UTRGV (2-3-2) in men’s soccer, the Vaqueros are members of the Western Athletic Conference…Saturday marked the first scoreless tied for CSUN since Oct. 26, 2019, when the Matadors and UC Santa Barbara went 0-0 over 110 minutes…Saturday was the first scoreless tie against a non-conference opponent since Sept. 13, 2015, when CSUN and CSU Bakersfield went 0-0.

Up Next
CSUN (3-2-3) opens conference play Wednesday night when the Matadors host UC Riverside (1-5-2). Coverage on ESPN+ begins at 7 p.m. with Ghizal Hasan on the call.