STOCKTON, Calif. - Sacramento State men's soccer defeated the Pacific Tigers in convincing fashion on Thursday night, shutting out the red-hot Tigers, 2-0 in Stockton.

With the win, Sacramento State improves to 2-5 while Pacific falls to 4-2. The Hornets are now 2-3 on the road. 

The Hornets had no easy task ahead of them on Thursday as they went on the road to face a Pacific club that had won three straight entering the match. After a tough loss at Stanford, the Tigers had won three in a row by a combined score of 8-4. 

Sacramento State snapped that streak with its first shutout of the season, silencing the Pacific attack for 90 minutes. 

Goalkeeper Ryan Curtis made a season-high seven saves while facing 11 total shots. The Tigers were efficient, placing seven of their 11 attempts on goal, but the Sacramento State defense and Curtis held the line. 

They had support early from the offense as the Hornets took an early 1-0 advantage in the 21st minute of play. Titus Washington found the back of the net for his first goal of the season after a couple of well-timed passes from both Oscar Govea and Axel Ramirez. In addition to his first goal of the year, the eventual game-winner was the second of Washington's career and his first since 2019. 

That one goal would've been enough, but just as Pacific seemed to be building some late momentum and pushing for an equalizer, a quick Sacramento State counter led to Eloge Iradukunda finding his first goal of the season and the first of his Hornets' career.

Iradkunda managed to sneak in behind his defender before putting a perfect touch on a ball from Michael Gonzalez by way of Francisco Magana. While Pacific's keeper managed to get a hand on it, he didn't get enough as the ball skipped into the goal. 

The goal proved to be the nail in the coffin for Pacific as they saw their win streak come to an end at the hands of the Hornets. 

Sacramento State took seven shots total, placing three of them on goal. The four assists are the team's most in a game this year and its most in a game since Oct. 12 of the 2019 season, a 2-2 draw at UC Irvine.

Up next for the Hornets is another challenging match, this time against the Saint Mary's Gaels on Sunday, Sept. 19. Sacramento State hosts the Gaels at Hornet Field on Sunday with a 1 p.m. kickoff. Sunday's match will kick off at 1:05 p.m. and will stream live on ESPN+.

For the latest men's soccer news, notes, and schedule, be sure to visit the Sacramento State men's soccer homepage online at HornetSports.com.