DAVIS, Calif. — There's probably no better way to close out a regular season than a win against your rival and the Sacramento State men's soccer team did just that on Saturday night, capitalizing on an early goal and holding off host UC Davis for a 1-0 shutout at UC Davis Health Stadium.
The win was the first in Big West Conference play for the Hornets, who won their first game since a 5-2 victory over Pacific on Sept. 7 and ended the year with a 4-10-4 overall record and a 1-4-4 mark in league play. Saturday's triumph also snapped an eight-match losing streak in the series with the Aggies, taking home a victory for the first time since a 2-1 triumph in Davis on Oct. 22, 2016.
Having already clinched a berth in the conference tournament, the Aggies fell to 7-7-3 overall and 4-4-1 in the Big West.
It took just eight minutes and 20 seconds for Sacramento State to break the scoreless deadlock as a ball played across the goal by Axel Ramirez was kicked out by the UC Davis goalkeeper, but kicked right to a waiting Michael Gonzalez, who rocketed a shot past the Aggie defense and into the right side of the net for the 1-0 lead.
The score was Gonzalez's first of the year and his first since scoring against San Francisco on Sept. 22 of last season and snapped a streak of more than 400 minutes without a score for the Hornets dating back to a 1-1 draw against CSUN on Oct. 7.
In the 29th minute, the Hornets nearly doubled their advantage as
Francisco Magana laced a perfect cross to the back right post where
Austin Wehner flicked a spot-on header inside the post for what would have been his fifth goal of the year, but it was waved off on an offside call, keeping it a 1-0 match.
From that point on, it was all about the Hornet defense and sophomore goalkeeper
Edgar Guerra, who finished with a career-high 10 saves — seven of those coming in the first half — to keep the clean sheet and nail down the win. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native was making only his third appearance of the year and his second start, picking up the win.
Sacramento State held a 14-12 advantage in shots, putting half of its attempts on frame. Eight of the Hornets' 11 starters finished with at least one shot, including a trio off the foot of Wehner, who put two of those attempts on frame.
The defense also successfully defended 10 Aggie corner kicks on the night, while Sacramento State attempted six of its own — all coming in the second half.
