SACRAMENTO -- Unbeaten in its last three, the Sacramento State men's soccer teams closes out a run of four straight matches against West Coast Conference foes this week, hosting Loyola Marymount on Thursday (Sept. 8) at 11 a.m., before welcoming Gonzaga to Northern California on Sunday (Sept. 11) for a Noon kickoff.
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #5
WHAT: Loyola Marymount (2-1-1) at Sacramento State (2-1-1)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022
TIME: 11 a.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Complete Sacramento State Weekly Release
MATCH #6
WHAT: Gonzaga (0-4) at Sacramento State (2-1-1)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022
TIME: Noon
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
SCHEDULE CHANGES: Please note the kick-off time change for Thursday's match against LMU -- now at 11 a.m. -- from the previously published start time of 4 p.m., due to extreme heat conditions forecast for the area that day.
IN THE POLLS: Neither Sacramento State, Loyola Marymount, nor Gonzaga, are ranked nationally entering the week... LMU is ranked No. 3 in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll as of Sept. 6.
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 of this week's matches 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.
FAISON HONORED BY THE BIG WEST: Hornet newcomer Justin Faison was named the Big West Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday (Sept. 5) after helping Sacramento State to an unbeaten week. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native is the first Sacramento State player to earn the league's freshman of the week award since it was instituted in 2021, and the first Hornet to win a conference weekly honor since Benji Kikanovic shared offensive player of the week laurels on Sept. 23, 2019. Read the complete release online at HornetSports.com.
THE HORNETS, QUICKLY: Sacramento State is coming off a season that saw the Hornets battle for a Big West Tournament berth right up until the final match of the 2021 regular season, finishing 5-10-3 overall and 3-4-2 in league play. This is a veteran group that returns 18 letter winners and nine starters off of last year's squad, bolstered by a nine-member incoming class that includes a trio of Division I transfers from the likes of Santa Clara, UCLA, and San Diego State. All-Big West Conference honorable mention selections Titus Washington and Jaime Robles, along with all-freshman team honoree Jhared Willcot, rejoin the ranks as Sacramento State brings back its top four scorers from a season ago, including leading scorer sophomore Michael Gonzalez who paced the team with four goals and nine points in 2021.
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 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: The Lions enter the week at 2-1-1 overall, suffering their first loss of the year, 2-1, to UC Santa Barbara at home after opening unbeaten in their first three... LMU posted wins over SIUE (3-1) and San Diego State (2-1) while drawing with UNLV (0-0)... The match against UCSB was the start of six straight against Big West opponents... Forward Adam Davie leads the team with three goals and six points as three players have accounted for the team's scoring this year... Senior Mitchell Wilson has played every minute in net, posting a 1.00 goals against average, 12 total saves, and a .750 save percentage.
SERIES NOTES: Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Loyola Marymount by a 10-5-1 count... This is the first meeting between the two since 2019, when the Lions posted a 3-0 victory in Los Angeles... This is the first meeting in Sacramento since the 2017 season, when the Hornets posted a 2-1 victory in double overtime... Sacramento State is 5-2 against LMU at home since 1992, having won two of the last three... Six of the last seven meetings between the two have ended in a shutout with each team winning three of those matches.
SCOUTING GONZAGA: The Bulldogs open the week with an 0-4 record and host Incarnate Word on Thursday (Sept. 8) in their home opener before heading to Northern California... Gonzaga has fallen to Denver (3-1), Michigan (1-0), California Baptist (3-1), and CSU Bakersfield (1-0)... Senior forward Demitrius Kigeya and senior midfielder Frankie Ljucovic have accounted for the team's only two goals, while Kigeya leads the team with three points... Senior Johan Garibay has played every minute in net, posting a 2.00 goals against average and 14 saves to go with a .636 save percentage.
SERIES NOTES: Gonzaga leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 7-3 count, winning last year's meeting by a 1-0 score in Sacramento after the Hornets posted a 2-1 win in 2019... That Hornet victory ended a run of five consecutive victories for the Bulldogs in the series... Sacramento State is 2-2 at home against Gonzaga, having lost the last two dating back to a 2-0 win in 1995... Four of the 10 meetings -- all during that five-match winning streak for the Bulldogs -- have been played on neutral fields.
CONFERENCE CALL: Sacramento State owns a 36-57-18 record against the eight current men's soccer-playing members of the West Coast Conference... The Hornets are 2-6-2 in their last 10 against the WCC with the only wins in that stretch coming against Pacific last season and Saint Mary's back on Sept. 1... Ten of the team's 35 wins against the WCC have come against Thursday's opponent in LMU.
START ME UP: The Hornets' 2-1-1 start to the 2022 season is their best since opening the 2019 campaign with a 4-0-1 record through their first five matches.
HOME, SWEET HOME: With last week's draw with Pacific, the Hornets carry a four-match unbeaten streak (3-0-1) dating back to last season into Thursday's clash against Loyola Marymount, 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 last weekend's draw with the Tigers.
MAN DOWN!: Sacramento State played a man down for the final 52 minutes of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Pacific, eventually striking for the tying goal in the 83rd minute off a Genaro Alfaro free kick. It was the first result while playing down a man for the Hornets since a 1-1 draw against Western Michigan on Sept. 24 of last season when a red card was issued in the 108th minute, while the last win for a short-handed Sacramento State squad came on Oct. 26, 2019, in a 2-1 win at UC Riverside, playing the final 43 minutes a man down before Alfaro's overtime game-winner.
GOALS COMING IN BUNCHES: The Hornets' four goals at Saint Mary's were a season high and the most since a 4-2 win at San Francisco at home on Sept. 19, 2019. It also marked the team's highest goal total on the road since a 5-4 overtime triumph at CSU Bakersfield on Aug. 31, 2018.
FOUR!: The last time the Hornets had at least four different goal scorers in a match was on Oct. 21, 2017, against Cal Poly when Matt Carnefix, Justin Bedig, Dominic Scotti, Paul Geyer, and Brad Bumgarner, found the back of the net in a 5-1 victory over the Mustangs.
CORNERED: The nine corners at Saint Mary's were a season high and the most since the Hornets finished with the same number against Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 23 of last season.
WHO WANTS IT?: Despite some turnover in the roster from 2021 to this season, 12 different players have accounted for the team's last 15 goals dating back to the final seven contests of last year and the first four of 2022. Only Dominic Vegaalban (both this year), Genaro Alfaro (CSUN last year, Pacific this year), and Christo Cervantes (UC Davis last year, Saint Mary's this year), have doubled up in that stretch.
ADD HIM TO THE LIST: Newcomer Austin Wehner and sophomore Ali Sasankhah picked up their first career goals in the green and gold last week, scoring the first and second goals in the Hornets' 4-1 win at Saint Mary's. Meanwhile redshirt freshman Gaelen Filtzanidis picked up his first career point with an assist on Dominic Vegaalban's second-half goal against the Gaels.
MULTI-TASKING: Dominic Vegaalban's three-point day against Saint Mary's marked the first time a Sacramento State player has had multiple points in a match since Tyler Moss had a pair of assists against UC San Diego on Oct. 16 last season, while becoming the first Hornet to have a goal and an assist in the same match since Oscar Govea did so at San Jose State on Sept. 2 last year.
GAMER GUERRA: Redshirt freshman Edgar Guerra made his debut in the green and gold last week in the Hornets' matches against Saint Mary's and Pacific, finishing with a pair of saves in each contest as Sacramento State finished unbeaten. Before sitting out last season, Guerra was a four-year starter at Maria Carillo HS in Santa Rosa, Calif., and played 10 seasons with his Atletico Santa Rosa ECNL club.
QUICK LIKE A HORNET: When Sacramento State found the back of the net in the seventh minute (6:46 to be exact) of its win over San Jose State, it marked the quickest goal scored by the Hornets since Matt Carnefix scored just 4:23 into a 2-1 win over San Diego on Sept. 15, 2019.
NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT THREE...: The next time that the San Jose State defense sees Dominic Vegaalban, it will be too soon. The sophomore newcomer to the Hornet roster unleashed a barrage of seven shots (three on frame) against the Spartans in the Hornets' Aug. 28 win -- the most in a single match by a Sacramento State player in nearly nine years dating back to Edwin Luna's eight attempts in a 1-1 draw with San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2013.
WELCOME HOME, MAX!: The Sacramento State men's soccer team completed its coaching staff for 2022 by welcoming home one of its own, adding former Hornet standout Max Alvarez to the staff. Alvarez was a four-year letter winner for Sacramento State from 2009-12, helping his team to a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles and two trips to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He scored 20 career goals and assisted on 13 others before joining the professional ranks, playing for Tucson FC, Sacramento Republic FC, and Saint Louis FC, with a stop in San Jose to play for the Earthquakes on loan in 2016.
