SACRAMENTO -- Following a brief two-match swing against Western Athletic Conference foes, the Sacramento State men's soccer team opens a run of four straight matches against the West Coast Conference this week, making the short jaunt to Stockton, Calif., to take on Pacific on Thursday (Sept. 7) before heading to Southern California for a battle against Loyola Marymount on Sunday (Sept. 10). Thursday's match against the Tigers will kick-off at 7 p.m., while the contest with the Lions will begin at 4 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
Game Notes: Sacramento State | Pacific | Loyola Marymount
MATCH #5
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-2) at Pacific (2-1-1)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Stockton, Calif.
STADIUM: Knoles Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: PacificTigers.com
MATCH #6
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-2) at Loyola Marymount (1-0-2)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Los Angeles, Calif.
STADIUM: Sullivan Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: LMULions.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 PACIFIC: The Tigers enter the week with a 2-1-1 overall record following a 1-0 win over UC Riverside and a 1-1 draw with CSU Bakersfield last week... Thursday marks only the second home match of the year for Pacific, which has opened with three of its first four on the road... Including their Sunday match against UC Davis, the Tigers will open the year with six straight matches against Big West Conference opponents... Fifth-year senior Derick Roque leads Pacific with three goals and an assist, finding the back of the net in each of the team's last three contests... Junior goalkeeper Joshua Moya has played every minute of the first four contests, posting 12 saves and a 1.50 goals against average.
SERIES RECORDS: Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Pacific by a 3-2-3 count and is unbeaten in the last four (1-0-3) meetings following a 1-1 draw at home last year... Thursday marks the fourth all-time meeting between the two in Stockton (1-1-1 in the previous three), with the Hornets posting a 2-0 win in their last trip there in 2021... The Tigers haven't won a match in the series since a 2-0 road win in 2017 and haven't won on their home field in the series since a 3-0 win in 2016.
SCOUTING LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: The Lions enter the week with a 1-0-2 overall record on the season and will host UC Davis on Wednesday prior to welcoming the Hornets... LMU has sandwiched draws against Michigan (1-1) and California Baptist (2-2) around an impressive 3-1 win at then-No. 15 Virginia on Aug. 27... The match against Sacramento State is the second in a run of three straight at home for the Lions... Grad student Ryan Kingsford and junior Tyger Smalls share the team lead with two goals each, with Kingsford adding an assist for a team-high five points... Senior goalkeeper Massimo Oedekoven Pomponi has played all but 44:33 in net this year, posting seven saves and a 1.60 goals against average.
SERIES RECORDS: Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Loyola Marymount by an 11-5-1 count following a 2-1 win last season at home... The Hornets are 5-3-1 on the Lions' home field in the history of the series, but hasn't won there since a 1-0 victory in 2016... LMU posted a 3-0 win over Sacramento State in the last match at Sullivan Field in 2019.
CONFERENCE CALL: Sacramento State is a combined 39-69-19 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.
THE HORNETS, QUICKLY: What's old is new again. It's true in fashion and, apparently, Sacramento State soccer. Head Coach Michael Linenberger returns close to his entire roster for the 2023 campaign, welcoming back 21 letter winners and nearly every starter -- including all but one who scored a goal last season -- while adding back three student-athletes who redshirted and five new faces. The Hornets finished 9-8-2 overall and 4-5 in Big West play, clinching a berth in the league tournament for the first time since 2017.
WHAT A WEEK FOR WEHNER: After being limited to only two total shots in the first two matches of the season, senior forward Austin Wehner got into the scoring column in a big way last week, posting the game-winner against Utah Tech and adding two assists on the first two goals of the match -- including the eventual game-winner -- in the win over Air Force. The four-point week gave him five goals and five assists for his Sacramento State career, tying him for third among active Hornets with 15 career points in the green and gold behind only teammates Francisco Magana (21) and Genaro Alfaro (19).
ASSISTS, PARTY OF TWO: Wehner's two assists against the Falcons were one shy of the school's single-match record held by Ryan Walker against UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 19, 1993, and he became the first Hornet to notch two assists in a match since teammate Dominic Vegaalban did so at Cal Poly on Oct. 19, 2022.
DON'T BLINK: If so, you might miss it. After enduring a 45-minute lighting delay at Air Force on Sunday, Titus Washington and Vegaalban needed only 1:09 to put the Hornets up 2-0 on the Falcons -- the quickest two goals since David Norton and Ernesto Carranza went back-to-back in 1:04 against CSU Bakersfield back on Oct. 25, 2009, in a 3-1 win over the 'Runners.
TITUS TERRIFIC: Washington was the first to get the Hornets on the board at Air Force on Sunday, tapping in an Austin Wehner pass for his first goal of the season and a 1-0 Sacramento State lead. After missing all of 2022 due to injury, it was Washington's first score in nearly two years as the Carlsbad, Calif., native scored for the first time since finding the back of the net on Oct. 16, 2021, against UC San Diego.
YOU GET A GOAL! YOU GET A GOAL!: Following Christo Cervantes' goal on Sunday at Air Force, the Hornets' last 11 goals dating back to last season have been scored by eight different players: Francisco Magana, Austin Wehner (twice), Dominic Vegaalban (twice), Genaro Alfaro, Bryan Gutierrez (twice), Simon Vaca-Lorenzi, Titus Washington, and Cervantes.
RETURN OF THE MAC: Junior goalkeeper Mac Learned stood tall in net for the Hornets in two wins last week, notching 11 of his 16 saves on the year in the matches against Utah Tech and Air Force and picking up his first shutout of the year. Included in that stretch were a career-high eight stops against the Trailblazers -- six of those in the second half and two coming in the final seven minutes as Sacramento State played down a man. Learned enters the week leading the league with 5.33 saves per game, ranks second in the Big West in total saves, and is one of three keepers with a .800 save percentage or better on the year.
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.
