SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sacrament State celebrated Senior Day on Saturday with a crucial, 3-1, win over the visiting Cal State Fullerton Titans. With the postseason tournament on the line, the Hornets gained ground in the standings with just one match left to play.

With the win, the Hornets are now 5-9-3 overall and 3-3-2 in the Big West. Cal State Fullerton falls to 3-10-3 overall and 1-6-1 in league play. 

The victory on Saturday keeps Sacramento State in the hunt for a spot in the Big West tournament. The Hornets entered Saturday's action seventh in the league, just one spot out of the tournament. With Saturday's win, the Hornets can guarantee themselves a spot in the Big West tournament with a win in next Saturday's season finale at UC Davis.

The Hornets jumped ahead early against Cal State Fullerton, taking a 1-0 lead in just the seventh minute thanks to Michael Gonzalez. Jaime Robles started the action from behind midfield, playing a forward ball to the charging Titus Washington. Washington managed to bring the ball down, delivering it right to the feet of Gonzalez, who danced around a defender before burying his shot in the back of the net. 

The goal was the team-leading fourth of the year for Gonzalez and gave the Hornets an early 1-0 advantage.

Cal State Fullerton answered in the 31st, scoring on an excellent bit of action between Charly Anguiano and goal scorer Samuel Owusu. Owusu's fifth goal of the year leveled the match, 1-1, in the 31st.

After half, the two teams traded opportunities, but it wasn't until the 71st minute when Alejandro Alcantara delivered the game winner on a brilliant strike from just beyond the corner of the 18. Alcantara, who possesses one of the more powerful legs on the squad, drove a low shot through traffic, through the box and into the far corner, just out of reach of the diving Titans keeper, Jose Espino. 

The goal was Alcantara's first of the season and the second of his career. It was also his first career game-winner.

Trailing again by a goal, the Titans continued to press, but as the game went on and tensions rose, the physicality between the two teams escalated before finally boiling over in the 83rd minute. After Washington and Fullerton defender Edward Salazar got tangled up and went to the ground, Salazar came up throwing punches in WAshington's direction. The two teams converged on each other as coaches and referees alike did their best to separate the two teams. 

After much shoving and shouting, Salazar was shown a red and shown off the field, forcing the Titans to play a man down for the matches' final nine minutes.

The removal of Salazar, the Titans' center back, proved costly as the Hornets managed to take advantage of the weakened back line with a pair of breakaway opportunities. After Washington missed on a good look in the 87th, Eloge Iradukunda had another in the 89th. Instead of staying on his line, Titans' keeper Espino came out into a slide tackle, taking Iradukunda off his feet and earning a yellow. 

Iradukunda buried the resulting penalty kick, scoring his second goal of the year and killing the match for the Titans in the process. 

Sacramento State now controls its fate heading into the final match of the regular season. A win next Saturday, Oct. 30 against UC Davis puts the team in the Big West Tournament. Any other result and the Hornets will need some help from around the league, starting first with tomorrow's Cal Poly vs. UC Davis match in San Luis Obispo. 

Next Saturday's match at Davis will kick off at 3 p.m. PT and will stream live online on ESPN+ with live stats available at HornetStats.com.