Complete Weekly Release: Sacramento State Game Notes
SACRAMENTO -- Unbeaten in its last five matches, a rolling Sacramento State men's soccer team hits the road for the first time since Sept. 1 this weekend, heading to the "Beehive State" to take on Utah Tech on Friday (Sept. 16) at 6:30 p.m. PT, before traveling to Las Vegas for a Sunday (Sept. 18) battle with UNLV at 6 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #7
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-1-1) at Utah Tech (1-4)
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 16, 2022
TIME: 6:30 p.m. PT
WHERE: St. George, Utah
STADIUM: Greater Zion Stadium
WATCH: WAC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: UtahTechTrailblazers.com
MATCH #8
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-1-1) at UNLV (0-3-2)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022
TIME: 6 p.m.
WHERE: Las Vegas, Nev.
STADIUM: Johann Memorial Field
WATCH: WAC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: UNLVRebels.com
IN THE POLLS: Neither Sacramento State, Utah Tech, nor UNLV, are ranked among the top 25, but the Hornets are one of 12 teams receiving votes in this week's College Soccer News Top 30... Sacramento State also makes its season debut at No. 6 in the Far West Region according to United Soccer Coaches -- one of five Big West Conference schools in this week's top 10 along with UC Santa Barbara (No. 3), Cal State Fullerton (No. 5), CSUN (No. 8), and UC San Diego (No. 10).
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!: Both Friday and Sunday's contests will be shown live on the WAC Digital Network. 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.
BIG WEST HONORS x2: Junior midfielder Francisco Magana and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Edgar Guerra were named the Big West Conference offensive and freshman of the week, respectively, on Sept. 12 after helping the Sacramento State men's soccer team to an undefeated week. Magana becomes the first Hornet to be named the Big West's offensive player of the week since Benji Kikanovic on Sept. 23, 2019, and only the sixth different Sacramento State to pick up the honor since it joined the Big West in 2012. Meanwhile, Guerra gives the Hornets back-to-back freshman of the week honors from the conference office, picking up the first award of his career and following up teammate Justin Faison's honor back on Sept. 5. Read the complete release at HornetSports.com.
AND NATIONAL HONORS TO BOOT: In addition to his conference player of the week nod, Magana was also named the College Soccer News National Player of the Week and earned a spot on its team of the week, while Top Drawer Soccer had him as an honorable mention pick for its national team of the week.
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 UTAH TECH: The Trailblazers enter the week with a 1-4 overall record after falling to Santa Clara at home on Monday by a 1-0 score... Utah Tech, in the third year of its four-year transition to the Division I level, snapped a three-match skid to start the year with a 1-0 win at CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 8, after opening with losses at Wisconsin (5-0), Marquette (6-1), and UC San Diego (1-0)... Sophomore forward Larsen Rogers and freshman Taylor Rogers have accounted for the team's only two scores this year... Sophomore Jacob Zimmerman has played the majority of minutes in net for the Trailblazers, posting a 0.80 goals against average and nine saves to go with a .818 save percentage.
SERIES NOTES: Friday marks the first-ever meeting between Sacramento State and Utah Tech in men's soccer.
SCOUTING UNLV: The Rebels enter the week with an 0-3-2 overall record and will host Pacific on Thursday (Sept. 16) before welcoming Sacramento State... UNLV has lost its last three after opening with scoreless draws over then-No. 22 Santa Clara and then-No. 24 Loyola Marymount, falling to CSUN (2-1), San Diego State (5-0), and UC San Diego (1-0)... Sophomore midfielder Gabe Sanchez has accounted for the team's lone goal on the year... Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Sway has played every minute in net, posting a 1.60 goals against average and 10 saves for a .556 save percentage.
SERIES NOTES: Sacramento State leads the all-time series with its former conference rival UNLV by a 15-5-2 count, but the Rebels snapped a seven-match winless streak with a 3-1 win in Las Vegas, Nev., last season... Ten of the 22 matches between the two programs have ended in overtime, including six of the last eight... The Hornets are 7-4-1 against the Rebels in Las Vegas, including a 2-0-1 mark in their last three trips... Prior to last year's win, UNLV hadn't defeated Sacramento State since the first meeting between the two in 2008 prior to the start of the Hornets' seven-match unbeaten run... Of the 22 meetings, 13 have been decided by one goal.
CONFERENCE CALL: Sacramento State owns a 51-42-7 record against the current Western Athletic Conference men's soccer alignment dating back to 1991, including a 2-1 win over San Jose State this year... Following that win over the Spartans, the Hornets have won four of their last five against WAC members dating back to 2019, with the lone loss coming against UNLV last year.
START ME UP: The Hornets' 4-1-1 start to the 2022 season is the program's best through the first six matches of the year since the 2009 squad opened 5-0-1 in its first six contests en route to a 12-win season and an NCAA Tournament berth.
SQUAD GOALS: Sacramento State's 12 goals through the first six matches of the year are the most to start a season since the 2011 team opened with 18 goals in the same number of contests -- 11 of those 18 coming in a shutout of NAIA member William Jessup. This year's 12 goals have the Hornets ranked No. 18 in the NCAA entering the week, while standing No. 37 in scoring offense with 2.00 goals per match.
TWO (OR THREE, OR FOUR) ARE BETTER THAN ONE: The Hornets have scored multiple goals in four of their first six matches, while the two goals surrendered to Gonzaga on Sept. 11 marked only the second time this season that Sacramento State has given up two-or-more scores. To compare, the Hornets had only six multiple-goal matches over 18 contests in 2021.
HOME, SWEET HOME: With last week's wins over LMU and Gonzaga, the Hornets extended their home unbeaten streak to six matches dating back to last season, moving to 5-0-1 in that stretch after finishing out the 2021 campaign with victories over Big West Conference rivals UC San Diego (2-1) and Cal State Fullerton (3-1), and adding a 2-1 win over San Jose State back on Aug. 28 to their 1-1 draw with the Tigers on Sept. 4.
"FRANCISCO... THAT'S FUN TO SAY": After scoring his first goal of the season in a 2-1 win over LMU -- and his first since finding the back of the net against UC San Diego on Oct. 16 of last year -- junior midfielder Francisco Magana busted out in a big way three days later against Gonzaga, collecting his first career hat trick in a 3-2 win over the Bulldogs. It was the first hat trick by a Hornet since Benji Kikanovic in 2019 and only the sixth 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.
MORE HAT TRICK HOOPLA: Magana's hat trick was only the 13 in the NCAA entering this week's contests and the first by a Big West Conference player since UC Davis' Maximilian Arfsten did so against San Francisco on Sept. 22 of last year. Magana's six points are ranked tied for second on the school's single-match list as he now leads the team with four goals and eight points, matching teammate Michael Gonzalez's team-high four goals last year.
HIGH FIVE?: A fifth goal by Magana (or anyone else for that matter) this season would be the most by a Hornet since Kikanovic and Dominic Scotti finished with five apiece in 2018.
LET'S TALK LEADERS: Magana's four goals put him in a tie for 12th nationally in total goals scored, standing just one off the Big West Conference lead held by Cal State Fullerton's Sebastian Cruz and two off the NCAA led shared by SMU's Knut Ahlander, Marshall's Matthew Bell, and Boston College's Stefan Sigurdarson, entering the week. Magana's eight points also rank tied for No. 29 in the nation.
GG's FOR CC: Not to be outdone, junior forward Christo Cervantes quietly had himself a solid weekend, scoring the game-winner against Loyola Marymount and adding an assist on Francisco Magana's first goal against Gonzaga. The game-winning goal was the second of his career while his assist against the Bulldogs was his first since helping on Alejandro Alcantara's goal against Cal State Fullerton at home on Oct. 23 of last season.
FIRST!: Newcomers Cody Sundquist and Austin Wehner each wrapped up a weekend of firsts against Gonzaga, tallying their first assists as Hornets in the 3-2 victory. Sundquist joined Christo Cervantes with the assist on Magana's first goal, while Wehner, who scored his first Sacramento State goal against Saint Mary's on Sept. 1, added the helper on Magana's second goal against the Bulldogs.
"AP" SCORES: Sophomore defender Alejandro Padilla was not only a key part of the Hornets' defense this past week, he also picked up the first collegiate point of his career, notching an assist on Francisco Magana's goal against Loyola Marymount on Sept. 8. Padilla, who played all 90 minutes for a second time this season against Gonzaga, became the 10th different Sacramento State player (at the time) to record a point this season, while Magana became the team's seventh different goal scorer.
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER: Four different Hornets have accounted for the game-winning scores in each of the team's four victories this season: Dominic Vegaalban (San Jose State), Austin Wehner (Saint Mary's), Christo Cervantes (LMU), Francisco Magana (Gonzaga), while Vegaalban and Wehner have tallied game-winning assists against the Gaels and Bulldogs, respectively.
GAMER GUERRA: Playing well after stepping in for the banged-up Mac Learned, redshirt freshman Edgar Guerra continues to shine between the pipes, setting and tying his career high with four saves against both Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga last week. Two of Guerra's four stops against Gonzaga were key in the final two minutes as he pushed away an attempt at the left post by the Bulldogs' Leon Sitz and, with only three seconds remaining in the match, diving to his left to knock away a game-tying opportunity on a free kick by Loic Baures from about 40 yards out as time expired. He also turned away LMU's Noel Caliskan earlier in the week, leaping to deny a go-ahead opportunity to the upper left corner in the 74th minute, and, again, turned Caliskan away in the 86th minute with his team playing a man down, punching away a tying attempt at the left post as Sacramento State ran out the clock.
WHO WANTS IT?: Despite some turnover in the roster from 2021 to this season, 12 different players have accounted for the team's last 20 goals dating back to the final seven contests of last year and the first six of 2022. Only Dominic Vegaalban (both this year), Genaro Alfaro (CSUN last year, Pacific this year), Christo Cervantes (UC Davis last year, Saint Mary's and LMU this year), and Francisco Magana (vs. UC San Diego last year, LMU and Gonzaga this year), have scored multiple times in that stretch.
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS... EVERYBODY!: Magana's hat trick against Gonzaga came on seven total shots in the match -- six of those on frame as the junior 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 since in nine years dating back to Edwin Luna's eight attempts in a 1-1 draw with San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2013. The 20 shots as a team were the most for Sacramento State 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 Jesup on Sept. 9, 2011.
