SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State junior Dominic Vegaalban has been named the Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career, the league office announced on Monday afternoon.
Vegaalban, who netted a second-half hat trick in the span of just under 17 minutes to help lift the Hornets to a victory at Pacific, became the first Sacramento State weekly honoree of the season and the first since Francisco Magana picked up the first of his career almost a year ago to the day following his own hat trick against Gonzaga last season.
Tied at two midway through the second half against the Tigers, Vegaalban capitalized on a red card issued to the Tigers' goalkeeper in the 64th minute, burying a free kick from about 20 yards out to the upper right corner, breaking the deadlock and netting his second game-winning goal of the season.
Five minutes later, teammates Christo Cervantes and Cody Sundquist teamed up to find Vegaalban wide open on the right side in the 69th minute to make it a 4-2 contest, before Vegaalban capped the scoring with his third of the night off assists from Michael Gonzalez and Zac Giles in the 81st minute.
The performance marked the seventh recorded hat trick in school history and the first since Magaña's feat against the Bulldogs in 2022. The two join Ryan Mitchell vs. Pacific in 1992, Jamel Mitchell vs. San Diego in 1994, Martin Sims vs. UNLV in 1994, Jamel Mitchell again against Cal Poly in 1996, and Benji Kikanovic vs. San Francisco in 2019, with hat tricks in the school annals.
In the process, Vegaalban also matched his goal-scoring total from all of 2022, when he finished with four goals and three assists in his first season with the green and gold. Coupled with Bryan Gutierrez's two goals earlier in the same match, it marked the first time that the Hornets have had two players with multi-goal performances in the same match since Isaac Ikyurav and Max Alvarez did so against Jessup University in an 11-0 rout on Sept. 9, 2011.
Entering the week, Vegaalban's four goals are tied for the most in the Big West along with CSUN's Jorge Solorano and his eight points share the top spot in the league with UC Santa Barbara's Lucas Gonzalez.
Sacramento State plays only its second home match of the 2023 campaign on Thursday (Sept. 14), hosting Saint Mary's at Hornet Soccer Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
