SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Junior Presley Strother and senior Kristen Bridges each scored their first career goals early in the first half and Sacramento State held Canisius to just three shots on goal in a 2-0 victory on Sunday at Hornet Field.

"It feels good to win," Sacramento State head coach Randy Dedini said. "I thought we played pretty well for the most part but it would have been nice to put away a few more goals because we had a lot of chances. Overall it was a good team win; we got a lot of players in the game and we played solid."

Sacramento State (3-3-0) had a 15-8 shot advantage for the game and had seven corner kicks while allowing just two. Senior goalkeeper Kimberly Mata picked up her second shutout of the season while making three saves as the Hornets permitted minimal offensive space for Canisius (1-5-0).

Both Hornet goals were scored earlier than any previous goals the team had scored this season. In the fifth minute, on just the team's second shot of the game and its first try on goal, Strother took a pass in stride from freshman Chelsea Arnold at the top of the box and fired into the far upper corner of the Canisius goal for her first Hornet score.

Sacramento State freshman Kylee Smith nearly had a second goal just three minutes later as her shot hit the post, but in the 35th minute the Hornets would strike again. Sophomore midfielder Lydia Bowman sent a pass to Bridges from just beyond midfield and the Hornet senior dribbled and finished to the same upper 90 spot as Strother's score to tally the first goal of her collegiate career.

Canisius nearly had a goal early in the second half as a shot from senior Mallory Illsley bounced off the post in the 53rd minute. For the Hornets, redshirt freshman Emily Hooper had four shots in the second half and missed just high on one header and also had a close breakaway denied by Canisius reserve goaltender Brigid St. Leger.

The Hornets had a 9-4 shot edge in the second half but Leger denied the only two shots on goal. Junior Kailee De Franks made the start in goal for the Golden Griffins and took the loss after allowing two goals without recording a save in the first half. Hooper and sophomore Alexa Heinzer each had four shots to lead the Hornets and Illsley and junior Tara McPherson paced Canisius with two shots apiece.

Sacramento State is on the road next week for one game, facing Fresno Pacific on Friday at 7:30 p.m.