A New Learning Curve

NORTHRIDGE —  After 14 seasons as a college soccer coach and with a background as a substitute teacher, Cal State Northridge women’s soccer Coach Brian Wiesner is used to judging talent and giving out grades.

His team last season earned low marks.

“I’d give us a D,” Wiesner said. “[The players] took some good tests but they didn’t do their homework every day like they should have.”

The result was a 4-15-1 season, including 10 shutout losses and a season-ending, six-match losing streak in which Northridge scored one goal.

“We didn’t do a good job of digging in when we needed to,” said Wiesner, whose team averaged less than one goal and gave up 2.7 per match.

“When we let in a goal, we didn’t always fight hard offensively to get back in the game.”

This season--the program’s third--Wiesner has sharpened his pencil and turned a critical eye on his team.

He grades players in nearly every practice drill and scrimmage. The players with the best composite scores will presumably earn starting positions.

But playing time is not the only prize. The financial equivalent of three full scholarships from the team’s $86,000 scholarship budget has been set aside, to be divided among the best performers not already receiving full scholarships and awarded before the team’s season opener at home on Friday against Grand Canyon.

Junior forward Amy Gill said the team has responded well to the grading system despite scattered griping.

“Some people feel they’d perform better without that pressure,” Gill said. “But that kind of pressure’s going to be there in games and it’s good because it makes you work harder.”

After two seasons as an NCAA Division I independent, Northridge moves into the six-team Big Sky Conference, which is holding its inaugural campaign. The Matadors are picked to finish second to Montana in a conference coaches’ poll but have little hope of earning a playoff invitation because the conference champion has no automatic bid to the 32-team NCAA tournament.

An outstanding record could land Northridge an NCAA at-large berth, but that’s unlikely with a nonconference schedule loaded with stronger teams such as UC Irvine, Pepperdine and USC.

“We have to clean our own house, so our primary goal is to win the Big Sky,” Wiesner said. “If we win only five games all season and all of them are in the Big Sky, that’s great, because that means the competition we played was a perfect setup.”

Last season’s team was decimated by injuries and the attrition continued in the off-season. Three starters were declared academically ineligible, another quit the team and a top recruit did not report for practice.

Northridge has seven starters back, but only two are seniors. The Matadors could start as many as five freshmen.

“We have a lot of freshmen with great attitudes but they’re still freshmen,” senior midfielder Marilyn Huschka said. “They tend to drop their heads and look at you with puppy-dog eyes when things go wrong.”

Heading into a scrimmage Sunday at UCLA, Huschka, Gill, senior midfielder Pam Karbowski and freshman stopper Beth Hoiby have earned starting positions. Huschka had reconstructive knee surgery last year. Gill led the team last season with five goals and Karbowski was the team’s most valuable player.

Freshman forward Jennifer Barnes, freshman midfielder Riya Gough and sophomore goalkeeper Tawni Takagi are other likely starters.

Forward and goalkeeper are positions where Northridge is particularly thin, but Wiesner is more concerned about his players’ mental approach.

“We just need to get everybody into a competitive frame of mind,” Wiesner said.

“There are a lot of people in this program who are sick of losing.”

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Northridge Women’s Soccer Roster

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No. Player Pos. Yr. Hometown 2 Rosana Mellon MF Jr. Granada Hills 3 Kari Attebery D Jr. Ventura 4 Jenn Gardner D So. Alta Loma 5 Kim Erwin MF Fr. Simi Valley 6 Karla Jara MF Fr. Sacramento 7 Marilyn Huschka MF Sr. Torrance 8 Karen Serynek F So. Fountain Valley 9 Jenny Wanner D Jr. San Diego 10 Abby Beahan D So. Torrance 11 Amy Gill F Jr. Alta Loma 12 Brandy Bucknum D Jr. El Cajon 13 Pam Karbowski MF Sr. Santa Rosa 14 Riya Gough MF Fr. San Diego 15 Deedee Jimison D Fr. Palo Alto 16 Beth Hoiby D Fr. Everett, Wash. 17 Jennifer Barnes F Fr. Hemet 18 Tawni Takagi GK So. Chatsworth 19 Heather Schou F Jr. Rancho Cucamonga 20 Abbey Smith D Jr. Bonita, Calif. 21 Heidi Strauss D So. West Hills 22 Tami Bowen F Fr. San Jacinto

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1997 Soccer Schedule

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Date Opponent Time Aug. 29 Grand Canyon 7:30 p.m. Sept. 1 at Pepperdine 3 p.m. Sept. 4 at UC Santa Barbara 7 p.m. Sept. 7 at UC Irvine 1 p.m. Sept. 12 *at Portland State 7 p.m. Sept. 14 at Oregon 11 a.m. Sept. 19 Hawaii 7 p.m. Sept. 21 Denver 4 p.m. Sept. 24 CS Los Angeles 7 p.m. Sept. 26 Weber State 7 p.m. Oct. 1 at USC 4 p.m. Oct. 8 CS Fullerton 7 p.m. Oct. 13 Fresno State 7 p.m. Oct. 17 *at CS Sacramento 4 p.m. Oct. 24 *at Northern Arizona 5 p.m. Oct. 26 Loyola Marymount 4 p.m. Oct. 31 *Weber State 7 p.m. Nov. 2 *Montana 4 p.m. Nov. 6-8 Big Sky tournament TBA

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*Big Sky Conference match