SACRAMENTO -- Cassandra Herrman's first career Division I goal put the Hornets ahead midway through the second half and the defense, helped along by goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier's six saves, stood tall, lifting Sacramento State to a 1-0 shutout of visiting UC Riverside on Thursday afternoon at Hornet Soccer Field.
The win was the second straight for the Hornets, who improved to 2-2-1 overall, finishing with their second consecutive shutout and extend their shutout streak to 205:01 over the last three matches. The Highlanders remained winless on the year, falling to 0-3-2.
After both teams went toe-to-toe over a scoreless first 45 minutes, it was Erika Tilford who got the winning sequence started with a corner kick from the far side of the field that bounced its way through traffic and remained loose in the box. Herrman, unmarked at the back post ran on and flicked it with a right foot between two UC Riverside defenders for the 1-0 lead.
In addition to Herrman's first career score, Tilford notched her first collegiate assist on the play between her time at UC Santa Barbara and with Sacramento State last season.
From that point on, it was all in the hands of the defense, which withstood four shots from the Highlanders' offense over the final 20 minutes, with Palmatier coming up with three of her six saves in that span — two of those coming in the final seven minutes of the contest.
Seven different Hornets finished with shots on the day led by four from
Ariana Scholten, who put two of those on frame. UC Riverside, which got shots from 10 different players finished with a 13-11 advantage in that category for the match.
Palmatier's six saves are the second-most in her career, trailing only the nine stops she had at Hawai'i last week on Aug. 24.
Sacramento State concludes its weekend on the road on Sunday (Sept. 3) at 1 p.m., heading to Orange County to take on UC Irvine.
Gallery: (8-31-2023) WSOC vs. UCR (Aug. 31, 2023)
