SACRAMENTO -- With the Big West Conference schedule rapidly coming to a close, the Sacramento State men's soccer team hits the road for a pair of matches this week in search of points in the race for a league tournament berth. The Hornets open on Wednesday (Oct. 19) on the Central Coast, taking on Cal Poly, before heading to Orange County on Saturday (Oct. 22) to face Cal State Fullerton. Both matches are scheduled to kick-off at 7 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #16
WHAT: Sacramento State (7-6-2, 2-4 Big West) at Cal Poly (1-10-3, 1-2-3 Big West)
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: San Luis Obispo, Calif.
STADIUM: Spanos Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoPoly.com
MATCH #17
WHAT: Sacramento State (7-6-2, 2-4 Big West) at Cal State Fullerton (8-4-4, 3-1-2 Big West)
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Fullerton, Calif.
STADIUM: Titan Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: FullertonTitans.com
IN THE POLLS: Neither Sacramento State, Cal Poly, nor Cal State Fullerton, are ranked nationally... The Titans stand No. 6 in the United Soccer Coaches Far West region poll, while the Hornets have fallen out for the first time since the second poll of the season.
THAT'S RANK: Sacramento State's appearance in the Sept. 20 United Soccer Coaches national poll marked only the seventh time that the Hornets have been among that group according to the organization's archive that dates back to 1996, and the first since they received six votes on Aug. 30, 2011. Sacramento State has twice finished the year receiving votes nationally in 2009 and 2010, including a program-high seven votes at the end of the 2010 campaign.
BE A FOLLOWER...: Fans can keep up with the latest in Sacramento State athletics by following us on Facebook (/SacramentoStateAthletics), Twitter (@HornetSports), and Instagram (@sacstateathletics). You can also follow the Hornets' men's soccer program on all three platforms: Instagram (@sacstatemsoccer), Twitter (@sacstmsoccer), and Facebook (/sacstatemsoccer).
WE'LL DO IT LIVE!: This week's matches at Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton will be streamed live on the ESPN+ subscription platform. Links to watch and for live stats for all matches throughout the season will be posted, as soon as they are available, on the men's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com.
PRESEASON PICKS: After narrowly missing out on a top-six finish and a Big West Conference Tournament berth in 2021, the Hornets were picked to finish fifth in the league in 2022 according to a vote of head coaches released on Aug. 19. Sacramento State garnered 46 total points to finish just one point behind UC Riverside in fourth and three back from UC Davis in third. Everyone is chasing UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine, which received 71 points each to tie for the top spot, but the Gauchos took home six first-place votes to three for the Anteaters.
SCOUTING CAL POLY: The Mustangs enter the week with a 1-10-3 overall record and a 1-2-3 mark in Big West play... Cal Poly is winless in its last four (0-2-2), falling at CSUN and UC San Diego last week... The Mustangs' only victory this season came on Oct. 2 in a 2-1 home win over UC Irvine... Junior midfielder Tony Ruiz and senior forward Max Kleinhammes have each scored three goals this season to lead the team, while Ruiz is tied for the team lead with two assists... Sophomore goalkeeper Gabe Penner has played the majority of minutes in net for Cal Poly, posting a 2.04 goals against average and 21 saves to go with a .553 save percentage.
SERIES NOTES: Cal Poly leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 15-9-4 count following a 1-1 draw in Sacramento last season... The Hornets are winless in their last three meetings (0-2-1) with the Mustangs dating back to a 5-1 win at home in 2017... Cal Poly leads the series, 11-4, in matches played in San Luis Obispo, winning three of the last four.
SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON: The Titans enter the week with an 8-4-4 overall record and a 3-1-2 mark in Big West play, sitting in a three-way tie for first in the league standings at 11 points with UC Santa Barbara (3-0-2) and UC Davis (3-1-2)... Fullerton travels to UC Riverside on Wednesday before welcoming the Hornets... The Titans are unbeaten in their last five (3-0-2) since a 3-2 loss at UC Irvine on Sept. 28... Fullerton is unbeaten at home (6-0-1) in seven contests this season... Junior midfielder Sebastian Cruz leads the team in scoring with eight goals and five assists for 21 points, while two other Titans -- Reziq Banihani and Julian Madrigal -- are also in double figures with 16 and 11 points, respectively... Junior goalkeeper Tetsuya Kadono has played all but 72 minutes in net this year, posting a 1.05 goals against average and 52 saves to go with a .765 save percentage.
SERIES NOTES: Cal State Fullerton leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 9-4 margin, but the Hornets took last year's meeting by a 3-1 score at home to end a three-match skid in the series... Sacramento State has won four of the five meetings at home in the series, but is 0-6 in true road matches against the Titans., with only two of those contests decided by a single goal... This will be the first meeting between the two in Orange County since 2018, a match won by Fullerton by a 1-0 score.
CONFERENCE CALL: Sacramento State is a combined 56-101-22 against its Big West Conference rivals since 2012, posting its highest win totals against Cal Poly and UC Davis (nine).
DOM-INANT RETURN: After missing nine matches due to injury and coming off the bench in each of the team's last two contests, sophomore Dominic Vegaalban made an immediate impact in his return to the starting lineup, scoring his third goal of the year in the seventh minute to tie the match against UC Riverside. It was his first score since his last appearance when he netted the Hornet's third goal of the match at Saint Mary's on Sept. 1.
NOT A MATTER OF IF, BUT WINS: Sacramento State's 2-1 win over UC Riverside gave the Hornets their seventh victory of the season -- the most for the program since the 2019 squad won the same number -- and their fourth win at home in 2022, which are the most since the 2016 team finished 6-3-1 at Hornet Soccer Field.
THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS: 10 of the team's 15 matches this season have been decided by a single goal, including five of the last six dating back to a 2-2 draw at UNLV on Sept. 18. Aside from the team's two draws this year, the only matches to be decided by more than a single score were the team's season opener at No. 3 Washington (L, 3-0), a 4-1 victory at Saint Mary's on Sept. 1 in Moraga, Calif., and last week's 2-0 defeat against UC Santa Barbara.
THREE-POINTER: With a goal and an assist on Saturday against UC Riverside, Austin Wehner became the third Hornet to score a goal and assist on another in the same match this season, joining Vegaalban at Saint Mary's and Michael Gonzalez at UNLV.
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER: Six different Hornets have accounted for the game-winning scores in the team's seven victories this season: Dominic Vegaalban (San Jose State), Austin Wehner (Saint Mary's and UC Riverside), Christo Cervantes (LMU), Francisco Magana (Gonzaga), Jaime Robles (Utah Tech), and Cody Sundquist (CSU Bakersfield), while Vegaalban, Wehner, Genaro Alfaro, and Alejandro Padilla have tallied game-winning assists. Dating back to last year, Sacramento State's last nine game-winners have been scored by eight different players when you add Titus Washington's winner versus UC San Diego and Alejandro Alcantra's score against Cal State Fullerton.
COMEBACK KIDS: For the first time all season, the Hornets were able to dig out of an early hole for a victory, winning for the first time when the opponent scores first last weekend against UC Riverside. Prior to that, Sacramento State had been winless in its last seven (0-6-1) such contests dating back to a 2-1 win over UC San Diego on Oct. 16 of last season as Francisco Magana and Titus Washington answered a second-half score by the Tritons in the 53rd minute. The Hornets haven't scored first in each of their last four matches dating back to Cody Sundquist's opener at UC San Diego on Oct. 1.
GOING TO WAR WITH GUERRA: Redshirt freshman Edgar Guerra made only his sixth appearance of the year -- and his first start in net since mid-September -- on Saturday against UC Riverside, finishing with three saves in the Hornets' 2-1 victory. The win pushed Guerra's record to 4-1-1 overall on the season, winning for the first time since a wild 3-2 triumph over Gonzaga on Sept. 11, while his three saves (on 11 shots) are his third-highest total this year.
MINUTE MAN: It's been difficult to get Genaro Alfaro off the field this season as the junior has played all 90 minutes in a match 13 times in the team's 15 contests this season -- including each of the last 12 -- and added another 89-minute performance. Sophomore Alejandro Padilla is next on the list, going the distance 11 times (including the last 10), with Jaime Robles next on that list with eight.
SPREAD THE WEALTH: Sacramento State has had 10 different players score goals this season -- tied for the second-most among Big West schools with UC Santa Barbara (10) and behind Cal State Fullerton (15) -- while eight different Hornets have found the back of the net multiple times to lead the league in that category over the Titans' seven.
FIRST!: The Hornets have gotten off to a strong start by scoring first in eight of their 15 matches thus far this season -- and 10 of their last 17 dating back to last year -- posting a 6-1-1 record in those contests in 2022 after suffering their first such loss at UC San Diego on Oct. 5. The eight "first goals" this season are tied for third in the Big West with UC Santa Barbara, trailing only UC Riverside's 11 and Fullerton's nine.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE: And we mean that in a good way. After three weeks of league action, Sacramento State ranks among the top three in the Big West in a number of categories, including: shots (2nd), shots per game (2nd), shots on goal (2nd), goals scored (3rd), and goals per game (3rd).
CORNERED: The Hornets enter this week's Big West contests with a league-high 84 corners on the season, averaging 5.60 per contest (No. 55 in the NCAA) through the team's 15 matches. Sacramento State earned 11 corners in its 2-2 draw at UNLV on Sept. 18 -- the most in a single match since collecting 14 against William Jessup on Sept. 24, 2010, and the most against a Division I opponent since posting 13 against Loyola Marymount a week earlier on Sept. 17, 2010.
ON THE SPOT: Michael Gonzalez's penalty against San Francisco on Sept. 22 was the team's first of the season and the first by a Hornet since Eloge Iradukunda converted with 39 seconds remaining against Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 23, 2021. The Hornets are a perfect six for their last six from the spot dating back to a miss on Sept. 23, 2018, on the road against, coincidentally, San Francisco.
ROBLES TO THE RESCUE: Jaime Robles' second goal of the season couldn't have come at a better time for the Hornets as his header off a Genaro Alfaro free kick in the 89th minute was the difference in a 1-0 win at Utah Tech on Sept. 16. It was the latest goal (88:29 to be exact) scored in regulation by a Sacramento State player since Eloge Iradukunda converted a penalty against Cal State Fullerton with 39 seconds remaining on Oct. 23 of last season, and the latest regulation game-winner since Alex Bettencourt scored at the 89:15 mark to defeat Portland, 2-1, on Sept. 15, 2016.
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS... EVERYBODY!: Francisco Magana's hat trick against Gonzaga on Sept. 11 -- the first by a Big West player since UC Davis' Maximilian Arfsten did so against San Francisco on Sept. 22 last year -- came on seven total shots in the match with six of those on frame as the junior continuously threatened to put more in the back of the net. The seven attempts matched Dominic Vegaalban's seven shots against San Jose State on Aug. 28 for the most by a Hornet this year and the most for a Sacramento State player in nine years dating back to Edwin Luna's eight in a 1-1 draw with San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2013. The Hornets tied their season high with 20 shots as a team at CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 28 -- matching the 20 against Gonzaga and the most since it took 20 against CSUN on Oct. 6 of last season -- while Magana's six shots on goal against Gonzaga were the most since Isaac Flores finished with seven (of his 12 overall) against William Jessup on Sept. 9, 2011.
