`NO ROOM FOR BAD FEELINGS,' PLAYERS TOLD.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

The Cal State Northridge men's soccer program is on death row. Only a stay of execution has kept it alive long enough for players to experience one more of coach Marwan Ass'ad's asphyxiating initiations.

On Thursday Ass'ad welcomed 22 players, all but one of them underclassmen, to the first practice of what is almost certainly the program's final season.

No matter how many laps around the track Ass'ad demanded of his players on an afternoon better suited for lap swimming, there was no hiding from the stark truth:

The players' time together is sure to run out before most of their athletic eligibility does.

``If we have 25 good players, we'll keep them all,'' Ass'ad said, a hint of defiance creeping into his voice. ``This is our last year. What does it matter if we keep a few extra?''

It takes 11 players to build a program but just one swift kick to strike it down. Ass'ad's program has done nothing wrong, except embrace the wrong brand of ``football'' to suit the university administration's tastes.

By disbanding soccer and three other men's sports in time for the 1998-99 school year, Cal State Northridge will be able to keep its football team and still comply with gender-equity guidelines that require the percentage of female athletes to mirror as closely as possible the percentage of females in the regular student body.

``There are bad feelings, there are good feelings,'' said Ass'ad, who has compiled a record of 173-86-25 over 14 seasons, including a 4-10-2 mark in 1996.

The university might have slipped a noose around the program, but Ass'ad told his players he won't stand for any negativity, lest they choke their own potential.

``There's no room for bad feelings,'' Ass'ad told his players, who open on Aug. 29 at home against Grand Canyon University, a Division II power. ``You have to eliminate them.''

When CSUN President Blenda Wilson and Athletic Director Paul Bubb announced they were cutting the soccer program on June 11, Michael Preis felt as if they had cut one of his major arteries.

``This is something that has been a part of my life for 14 years,'' said Preis, a former Chatsworth High standout who led CSUN in scoring last year as a freshman. ``I've been going to Marwan's camps since I was 5. I grew up watching the Matadors. I can name players from the 1987 and 1988 teams that went to the (Division II) Finals. Somewhere in my room at home I have a program with all of their autographs on it.''

When it came time to choose a college, Preis could have signed with a top-10 program. But he settled on the one closest to his home and his heart.

``This isn't just a team, it's not just a game,'' Preis said. ``It's a family. The way Marwan brings you in, he makes us all feel like his sons.''

The size of Ass'ad's extended family is breathtakingly large, covering AYSO programs from Agoura Hills to Van Nuys and everywhere in between. When the news of his program's predicament filtered out, donations quickly started flooding in. Within a week, people whose lives had been enriched by Ass'ad had written checks totaling $17,000, which was enough to fund the program for the 1997 season.

Norm Macdonald, a club coach whose son John attends CSUN rival Cal-Berkeley on a soccer grant-in-aid, led the way with a $5,000 donation. ``Marwan's program is well-integrated into the community,'' Macdonald said. ``The goodwill he spreads around and his coaching expertise, you just can't put a price on that.''

Aside from a one-year reprieve, handed down on June 18, CSUN is giving Ass'ad three scholarships and a $15,000 salary for his trouble. No matter, it clearly is a labor of love.

An assiduous caretaker, Ass'ad went about the opening day of practice as methodically as always, sprinkling beads of insight that his players soaked up.

Some of his lessons have less to do with soccer than they do life. Midway through a three-mile run, Mark Fitzpatrick, a transfer from the Naval Academy who was jogging with the lead pack, suddenly slowed and started backpedaling until the two goalkeepers bringing up the rear were within earshot.

Fitzpatrick, who attended Ass'ad's camps as a youngster, coaxed the stragglers along for a couple of laps before sprinting to catch up with the leaders.

That's the way the Matadors play. All for one and one for all, and let the administration's ax fall where it may.

``The best thing for me to do personally is to ignore everything and concentrate on having a great year,'' Ass'ad said. ``The challenge is for the community. If they show up for our games in big numbers, it's going to be awesome. If they don't support the team, we don't deserve to keep it.''

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Photo

Photo: The CSUN men's soccer team practices for the first time Wednesday in what will be its last season playing together.

Myung J. Chun / Daily News