SACRAMENTO -- A run of four straight matches against the West Coast Conference wraps up this week as the Hornets take on Saint Mary's on Thursday (Sept. 14) at 4 p.m. in only the second home match of the season, before traveling to San Francisco on Sunday (Sept. 17) at 7 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Saint Mary's | San Francisco
MATCH #7
WHAT: Saint Mary's (3-1-2) at Sacramento State (3-3)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
MATCH #8
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-3) at San Francisco (4-1-1)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: San Francisco, Calif.
STADIUM: Negoesco Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: USFDons.com
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!: Every home match during the 2023 regular season will be streamed live on the ESPN+ subscription platform, with select road contests available on various streaming platforms. Links to watch and for live stats for all matches will be posted, as soon as they are available, on the men's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com.
SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S: The Gaels enter the week with a 3-1-2 overall record and are unbeaten in their last four (2-0-2)... Saint Mary's posted a 3-1 win against San Jose State at home and battled UC Irvine to a scoreless draw on the road last week... Thursday marks only the second road contest for the Gaels this season... Junior forward Riley Lynch leads the team with three goals, three assists, and nine points, and is one of six goalscorers for Saint Mary's this year... Junior goalkeeper Jack Landreth has played every minute in net, posting a 0.83 goals against average and 21 saves (.808 save percentage).
SERIES RECORDS: Saint Mary's leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by the count of 16-8-8... The Hornets posted a 4-1 win in Moraga last season, ending five-match (0-4-1) winless streak against the Gaels in which they had been outscored 8-1... Sacramento State is 3-8-4 at home against Saint Mary's... The Hornets are 0-2-3 at home against the Gaels in the last five, having not won since a 1-0 shutout on Sept. 14, 2008... Since that win, the two teams played to double-overtime draws in six of the next seven matches overall -- four by a 1-1 score and two scoreless ties.
SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO: The Dons enter the week with a 4-1-1 overall record, suffering their first loss of the season with a split against CSU Bakersfield (L, 1-0) and California (W, 3-0) last week... San Francisco hosts UC Davis on Thursday before welcoming Sacramento State... The Dons have played only one road match all year, drawing at San Jose State on Aug. 31... Junior midfielder Gabriel Bracken Serra leads the team with four goals and nine points -- one of six goalscorers for USF, but the only one with multiple goals... Junior goalkeeper Eric Waltz has played every minute in net for the Dons, posting a 0.67 goals against and 16 saves (.800 save percentage).
SERIES RECORDS: San Francisco leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by the count of 9-7-4, having won the last two meetings by identical 2-1 scores in 2021 and 2022... The Hornets are 4-6-2 against the Dons on the road, having split the last four meetings... Sacramento State's last win at San Francisco came on Sept. 23, 2018, in a 3-2 overtime triumph.
CONFERENCE CALL: Sacramento State is a combined 40-70-19 against the eight men's soccer-playing members of the West Coast Conference, including a 3-1-1 record against the league last season... Six of the Hornets' nine non-conference matches are against the WCC this year, including four straight from Sept. 7-17 against Pacific, LMU, Saint Mary's, and San Francisco... Sacramento State has posted 11 wins over LMU -- the most against any WCC rival -- while the Hornets have also beaten Saint Mary's eight times.
VEGAALBAN NETS BIG WEST HONORS: For the first time in his career, Sacramento State junior Dominic Vegaalban was named the Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 11, becoming the first Hornet to earn the award this year and the first since Francisco Magana picked up the first of his career nearly a year ago to the day. Read the complete release by clicking here.
HIGH FIVE!: The five goals scored in last week's win at Pacific were not only a season high, they were the most by the Hornet offense dating back to a 5-4 overtime win at CSU Bakersfield on Aug. 31, 2018.
HELP IS ON THE WAY: Only two of the team's 11 goals this season have been unassisted, with three of those 11 scores collecting multiple assists.
BE QUICK, BUT DON'T HURRY: The Hornets left little time for fans to take their seats last week, scoring the opening goal in their matches against Pacific and Loyola Marymount in the first 10 minutes of play. Bryan Gutierrez's opening score against the Tigers came at the 7:03 mark -- the quickest since Dominic Vegaalban found the back of the net just 6:33 into a 2-1 win over UC Riverside on Oct. 15, 2022.
HAT TRICK HOOPLA: It took Vegaalban only 17 minutes against Pacific to become the team's leading scorer, netting three of his four goals on the year in that span to break a 2-2 tie with the Tigers and lift the Hornets to a win. Vegaalban scored in the 64th, 69th, and 81st minutes en route to the 5-2 win, netting only the seventh recorded hat trick in school history and the first since Francisco Magana's hat trick against Gonzaga in 2022.
"BRACE" GUTIERREZ: Sometimes, the way to get ahead is using your head. Junior Bryan Gutierrez did just that in the first 20 minutes of the Hornets' win over Pacific, converting a pair of Genaro Alfaro corner kicks into a 2-0 lead. It was the first career brace for Gutierrez and his first goals since scoring in back-to-back matches against Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis last season.
TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE: Gutierrez and Vegaalban's multiple-goal performances against the Tigers marked the first time that two Hornets scored multiple goals in the same match since Issac Ikyurav and Max Alvarez scored two apiece in an 11-0 rout against Jessup University on Sept. 9, 2011.
ASSISTS, PARTY OF TWO: Anything you can do, I can do. Just two matches after Austin Wehner went for two assists in a win at Air Force, Genaro Alfaro matched the effort in a win at Pacific, netting his first two points of 2023 thanks to goals by Bryan Gutierrez. It marked the first time that two different players have had multiple assists in a match during a season since 2011 when Isaac Flores (vs. Jessup) and Chris Bettencourt (vs. San Jose State) accomplished the feat. More recently, Arath Chavez did it twice by himself against San Francisco and CSUN on Sept. 19 and Oct. 16, respectively, in 2019.
RETURN OF THE MAC: Junior goalkeeper Mac Learned stood tall in net for the Hornets, tying his career high with eight saves at Pacific and adding seven more at No. 24 LMU -- accounting for nearly half of his 31 saves this year. Learned enters the week leading the Big West in both overall saves and saves per match (6.20), ranking No. 3 in the nation in the former and No. 7 in the nation in the latter.
POTENT OFFENSE: The Hornets enter the week ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA in goals (No. 24), assists (No. 17), and points (No. 23), led by the 1-2 punch of Vegaalban and Wehner, who rank No. 15 in the nation in goals and assists, respectively. Vegaalban shares the league lead in goals (4) and points (8), while Wehner ranks tied for second in assists (3).
A WEEK OF FIRSTS: Two more Sacramento State newcomers tallied their "firsts" last week as freshman Zac Giles collected his first career point with an assist on Vegaalban's third goal of the night against Pacific, while transfer Hasan Alsaktai got into the scoring column with his first collegiate goal to get the Hornets on the board at No. 24 Loyola Marymount.
NOT IF, BUT "WIN": The nine overall victories in 2022 were the most for the program since 2016 (9-8-3) -- and tied for third in a single-season according to available records -- while the four Big West triumphs were the most since 2017 (4-4-2). At one point in the year, Sacramento State was receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches national poll and were ranked among the Far West Region poll for seven of the 10 weeks during the regular season.
PRESEASON PICKS: Sacramento State was picked to finish tied for fifth in the Big West Conference alongside Causeway rival UC Davis according to a vote of the league's head coaches, picking up 42 points. Perennial power UC Santa Barbara received three first-place votes and 72 points overall to top the poll, while UC Riverside — last year's tournament champion — picked up a conference-best four first-place votes and 69 points overall to finish second.
TO BE THE BEST...: You have to play the best. Sacramento State will do just that this coming season as three of its 2023 opponents were NCAA Tournament qualifiers a season ago (Stanford, Portland, and UC Riverside), while facing six schools that finished last year ranked among the top 100 in the final NCAA RPI rankings: Stanford (No. 9), Portland (No. 17), Air Force (No. 51), UC Santa Barbara (No. 63), Loyola Marymount (No. 86), and San Jose State (No. 100).
WEHNER, WEHNER, CHICKEN DINNER: After racking up United Soccer Coaches all-region and first-team All-Big West laurels in his first season in the green and gold, senior forward Austin Wehner added to his honor roll after being named to the league's preseason coaches team. Wehner becomes only the sixth Hornet since 2012 to earn the honor and the first since Oscar Govea in 2021. Those two are joined by Cesar Castillo (2012), Isaac Ikyurav (2013), Brad Bumgarner (2016), and Paul Geyer (2017) as Sacramento State student-athletes to have earned a spot on the league's preseason team.
TOP SHELF TALENT FROM TOP DRAWER: As the start of the season rapidly approaches, a pair of Sacramento State student-athletes were among those to watch in Top Drawer Soccer's Big West Conference preview as newcomer Simon Vaca-Lorenzi was named as one of five "top freshmen to watch," while Austin Wehner was among a group of five "top players to watch" along with UC Santa Barbara's Leroy Zeller, UC Riverside's Brendan Clark, CSUN's Jamar Ricketts, and UC Irvine's Eddy Berumen.
BY THE NUMBERS: A benefit of returning nearly every member of last year's roster is that the Hornets return a large amount of their production from a season ago. Sacramento State brings back all 28 of its goals and all 22 of its assists from 2022, while losing only 16 of its 207 shot attempts. In net, the two-headed monster of Edgar Guerra and junior Mac Learned return between the pipes after splitting time in 2022. Guerra finished with a 1.26 goals against average and 36 saves (.750 save percentage) en route to winning six contests in net, while Learned posted a 1.48 goals against average and 25 saves in 10 starts.
SQUAD GOALS: The Hornets' 28 goals scored and 78 total points in 2022 were the most by a Sacramento State offense since the 2017 team finished with the same number of goals and 81 total points. According to available records, the 28 goals rank tied for sixth in a single season, while the 78 points are tied for ninth.
DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP): Meanwhile, at the other end of the field, the Sacramento State defense posted a 1.37 goals against average, standing ninth in a single season and the lowest since the 2016 team finished with a 1.35 goals against average.
WE BAND OF BROTHERS: When they take the field for the first time in 2023, Hornet brothers Jhared and Robert Willcot will become, what is believed to be, the third set of brothers to play soccer at Sacramento State in the same season, joining Blake and Brady Nunes (2007-08) and Ivan and Omar Oseguera (2017-18). They join other brother tandems who have both played for the Hornets at some point in their careers: Mark and Kevin Baena, Mike and Tim Gaither, and Oscar and Danny Goeva.
GOLDEN STATE STANDOUT: Prior to ever suiting up in the green and gold, Sacramento State freshman Simon Vaca-Lorenzi was already racking up laurels, named the Gatorade California Boys Soccer Player of the Year on June 16, recognizing outstanding athletic excellence, high standards of academic achievement, and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. Read the complete release by clicking here.
