NORTHRIDGE – Justin Knighton had a 19th birthday to remember.
The sophomore scored the game-winning goal – and his first collegiate goal – while Marco Brougher made four saves to earn the shutout in a 1-0 Cal men’s soccer victory Sunday night at Cal State Northridge.
The Golden Bears evened their record at 2-2-0. CSUN is 1-1-1.
In a relatively balanced opening stanza, the Matadors outshot Cal 7-2, but neither team put a shot on goal, resulting in a 0-0 deadlock at halftime.
The second half saw numerous chances by both sides. Between the 50th and 67th minutes alone, CSUN produced six shots and forced Brougher to make two saves, while Cal put all four of its shots on goal during that span, with Merrick Cook saving two shots by Israel Cortez and stopping two shots by Malcolm Zalayet.
At 73:35, Zalayet and Alfredo Ortiz combined to set up Knighton for the goal. The midfielder fought off a defender to collect the ball with his back to goal at the top of the box. He turned and juked to make two defenders move right, switched the ball to his left foot as Cook moved closer to his far right post, and then Knighton blasted the ball inside the other post.
“It felt amazing, with my friends and family in the stands,” said Knighton, who hails from Torrance, about 45 minutes from Northridge. “It was electric. This was by far the best birthday present!”
Brougher made two more clutch saves – on shots by Arturo Reveles in the 87th minute and Siddiq Lezzar in the 90th minute – to preserve the win.
“For us to grind out a win against a very good Cal State Northridge team, I couldn’t be prouder of…
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