SACRAMENTO -- Francisco Magaña posted his first career hat trick, scoring in the 20th, 51st, and 67th minutes on Sunday afternoon to help lift the Sacramento State men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over visiting Gonzaga at Hornet Soccer Field.
The win ran the Hornets' unbeaten streak to five straight contests (4-0-1) as they improved to 4-1-1 overall on the season and won for the second time in the last three meetings with the Bulldogs dating back to 2019. Gonzaga, which made it a one-goal contest in the 86th minute and had a potential game-tying goal turned away as time expired, fell to 1-5 overall on the year with the defeat.
Magaña's hat trick was the first by a Hornet since Benji Kikanovic scored three times as part of a 4-2 victory over San Francisco on Sept. 19, 2019, and added his name to a list of five previous Hornets to have notched a hat trick in the program's Division I history, joining Jamel Mitchell — who did it twice against San Diego in 1994 and Cal Poly in 1996 — Ryan Mitchell against Pacific in 1992, Martin Sims at UNLV in 2004, and Kikanovic.
His first goal staked Sacramento State to the early lead as Cody Sundquist dribbled to the top of the 18 before handing off to Christo Cervantes on the right side. Cervantes lofted a cross to the back left post to the head of a leaping Magaña, who brought it back across the goal to the right post for the 1-0 lead.
That score lasted through halftime when Magaña wasted little time in making it a two-goal game, scoring just six minutes into the half after it looked like Gonzaga had tied the match, but Logan Dorsey's chip shot clanged off the left post and somehow stayed out.
Austin Wehner got the run started down the right side and laid off a pass into the box for Magaña, who turned and chipped a shot to the left side of the net for the 2-0 advantage.
Gonzaga answered just four minutes later on a score by Frankie Ljucovic that cut the deficit back to a single goal, but Magaña wasn't done, as Wehener lofted another ball to Magaña waiting at the top of the six. Magaña's header was saved by the Gonzaga goalkeeper at the right post, but there wasn't a Bulldog there to clean up the rebound as Magaña rocketed the shot past the keeper on the ground for his third goal of the afternoon and his fourth in the last two matches.
The Bulldogs kept the pressure up despite chasing two goals, putting three shots wide of the frame before Robbie Mora clawed one of the goals back in the 86th minute, taking a feed from Dorsey, settling, and poking it home to the left side to make it 3-2.
Gonzaga had two more chances in the final two minutes, but goalkeeper
Edgar Guerra was up to the task, stopping a shot at the left post by Leon Sitz and, with only three seconds remaining in the match, diving to push away a game-tying opportunity off a free kick from about 40 yards to the right post by Loic Baures as time expired.
Sacramento State held a 20-17 advantage in shots for the match, including 9-6 in shots on goal, while taking seven of the 10 corner kicks on the day. Magaña led all players with seven shot attempts (six of those on frame) while four other Hornets finished with multiple shots on the day.
The road beckons for Sacramento State, which plays away from home for the first time since Sept. 1 next week, traveling to Utah Tech on Friday (Sept. 16) before facing UNLV in Las Vegas on Sunday (Sept. 18).
