SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sacramento State scored early and often, taking a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, and cruised to a 4-1 win over Southern Utah on Sunday at Hornet Field.

Sacramento State (4-6-0, 2-0-0 Big Sky) has opened Big Sky play with a 2-0 record for the first time since 2010, the last year the Hornets won the Big Sky Tournament title. The home team nearly had its second shutout in as many Big Sky games but Southern Utah (5-5-0, 0-2-0 Big Sky) was able to get a goal with less than a minute and a half left in regulation time.

"We would've liked to have it 4-0, but I thought our girls came out and played phenomenally for the second game in a row," Sacramento State head coach Randy Dedini said. "We've never wavered from our confidence in ourselves. Our record wasn't great but we knew we were playing good soccer so it feels really good to start out 2-0 in conference. It's not nearly enough and we know we need to keep working and get some more wins, but it's a really good start and I'm really proud of our girls."

The Hornets scored a season-high four goals while equaling their season best with 11 shots on goal. The four goals came from four different players, with sophomore Kayla Collins tallying a goal and an assist after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime on Friday.

Just one minute and 52 seconds into the contest, Collins sent a perfect corner kick into the goalmouth and found sophomore Amanda Mielke on a header into the net for her first career goal.

In the 28th minute, redshirt junior Alyssa Anderson had a run to the right of the Thunderbird goal and sent a cross into the box that hit an SUU defender and went to junior Adaurie Dayak for a close finish. Sacramento State had an 11-5 edge in shots in the first half and allowed only one Southern Utah shot on goal in the first period.

The Hornets made their lead 3-0 early in the second half after Southern Utah was issued a yellow card just above the 18-yard box. Junior Jennifer Lum tapped the free kick to Collins, who fired a perfect shot to the upper 90 for her team-leading fourth goal of the season.

Sacramento State got a fourth goal in the 81st minute when junior Regan Smithers headed home a corner kick from sophomore Bianca Tabuso for her first career goal. Southern Utah got its goal from Shelby Green off a corner kick in the 89th minute to complete the scoring.

The Hornets had a 20-14 overall shot advantage and were 11-4 in shots on goal, though SUU did have two shots hit the crossbar. Sacramento State had a season-high 10 corner kicks, earning five in each half, while allowing only three.

Redshirt freshman Destiny Butcher made three quality saves in the win while Thunderbird goalkeeper Taylor Bolding had seven stops. Mielke led all players with five shots while senior Presley Strother had three shots and placed two on goal.

Both teams used 21 players in the game, with each bringing 10 substitutes off the bench. Other than the two goalies, Smithers and SUU defender Summer Soriano were the only players that stayed on the field for the full 90 minutes.

The Hornets embark on their longest road trip of the year next week with games at Eastern Washington Friday and Idaho next Sunday before two more road games the following week.