SOCCER: WIN ESCAPES CSUN WOMEN'S SOCCER.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

Melissa Cleal spoke softly, the Cal State Northridge senior midfielder seeking answers. Frustrating losses during a four-match homestand were difficult to explain.

``We should of ... I don't know,'' Cleal said. ``We're 1-10, and we can not get past or get over the hump of getting a win.''

The Matadors women's soccer team hasn't done that since beating Nevada in the season opener. But what's agonizing for them is the way they keep falling painfully short, as Sunday's 1-0 Big West Conference defeat to visiting UC Riverside suggests.

CSUN (1-10, 0-2) controlled the field throughout the match, outshooting the Highlanders (7-4-1, 0-1) 20-10, including an 8-2 second-half advantage. UCR's only goal was saved at first by Matadors keeper Jen Jasper, who couldn't quite clutch the ball as it trickled into the left corner of the net.

The Matadors also missed a first-half penalty kick, something that haunted them in Friday's near-upset of defending Big West champion Cal State Fullerton.

Against Fullerton, CSUN missed a penalty, and the Titans scored the game-winner on a penalty shot of their own that initially was denied by Jasper but deflected right back to the shooter for a successful rebound.

That 3-2 near-miss in the conference opener proceeded a 3-2 double-overtime loss to San Francisco and a 4-2 decision to Nevada Las Vegas, when the Rebels scored twice in the final 10 minutes of a 2-2 tie. Four times this season, the Matadors have given up the winning or tying goal in the final two minutes.

``We should have beat that team,'' coach Allison Lee said of UC Riverside. ``It's another shoulda. There's a lot of regrets this season. A lot of games that we should have won. But unfortunately we don't.''

The Matadors couldn't help but ask what if Jasper, who saved four shots from a hardly imposing Highlanders' offense, briefly stopped Renee Scachetti's try in the 10th minute? But the ball skipping over the line is typical of CSUN's plight.

``They flooded the box, but I probably should have gotten to it,'' Jasper said. ``We're starting to put it together. In the very beginning of the season we were trying to jell, and right now we're just about there. We thought we were there. We just have to keep plugging away.''

In men's soccer:

--CSUN 3, Denver 1: Jesse Servin, Josh Barton and Yossi Raz scored for the Matadors (7-1-1), who are playing some of their best soccer with one of their biggest tests upcoming.

Unbeaten in the past six matches, the Matadors begin Big West play Oct. 16 but have one critical nonconference match left: Thursday at No. 12 San Diego.

``We're excited about the opportunity to play USD,'' CSUN coach Terry Davila said. ``It's a good matchup between leagues. There's a lot of playoff implications for that game. We set it up by winning these last few games.''

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Photo:

CSUN's Ashley Augenstein, center, is surrounded during the Matadors' 1-0 loss to UC Riverside.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Associated Press