SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Loyola Marymount scored early in the fifth minute and had two more goals in the first half in a 3-0 victory over Sacramento State on Sunday at Hornet Field.

The defending champion of the West Coast Conference (WCC), Loyola Marymount (1-1-2) held the Hornets to two shots on goal and used a strong first half to pick up the win. Possession was mostly even throughout the game but Sacramento State (0-2-1) had a few defensive breakdowns and couldn't find the back of the net offensively.

"It sounds strange but I was quite pleased with the way we played today," Sacramento State head coach Michael Linenberger said. "I thought we played a lot better than we did on Friday (a 3-3 draw vs. San Diego). Obviously the result is a lot worse than on Friday, but I almost felt like the way we played today should have been the 3-3 tie and the way we played on Friday should have been a 3-0 loss, but that's soccer.

"We made some critical mistakes in the back and they are very good on the counter and punished us, but I was pleased with our performance today. Our soccer was good - I thought we created more chances than on Friday. We didn't score like we did on Friday but our possession was a lot better. We took a step forward in a few areas but we took a step backward in some areas as well."

All three LMU goals in the game came on the counter attack. The visitors got on the board first in the fifth minute as a Hornet giveaway led to an odd-man rush for the Lions with a finish to the top right corner from redshirt freshman Griffin Bell from 10 yards out.

Loyola Marymount doubled its lead in the 35th minute as another odd-man attack was finished by senior Sebastian De Rada from the right side of the Hornet goal. Four and a half minutes later the Lions struck again on a 4-on-2 counter with the goal coming from 10 yards out from freshman Grant Sampson.

LMU had a 7-2 shot advantage in the first half, but in the second half the shots were 6-5 in favor of Sacramento State with two shots on goal. Senior Andres Garcia had a great scoring chance in front of the Lion goal in the 53rd minute but missed just wide.

Freshman Cylus Sandoval had a near goal in the 65th minute but had a close shot attempt blocked aside. In the last four minutes of the contest the Hornets forced LMU goalkeeper Vince Paldino make a couple of saves to preserve his shutout.

The final shot count was 12-8 Loyola Marymount with a 5-4 LMU edge in corner kicks. Redshirt sophomore Philip Bru made two saves for the Hornets and De Rada led all players with three shots. Each team was issued three yellow cards in the match.

Sacramento State still has five games remaining on its record-long seven game home stand. Next weekend the Hornets host San Jose State at 4 p.m. Friday and Cleveland State at 1 p.m. Sunday.