SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sophomore Donovan Sessoms netted his first career hat trick, scoring just three minutes into the contest and adding a pair nine minutes apart in the second half, helping the Sacramento State men's soccer team upset Big West Conference-leading UC Santa Barbara, 3-1, on Saturday at Hornet Soccer Field.
The Hornets won their second straight in improving to 6-7-2 overall and 3-3 in conference play, snapping a four-match losing streak to the Gauchos in the process with their first win — and first goals against UCSB — since a 2019 shutout at home. It also marked the most goals scored in a match against the Gauchos since Sacramento State posted a 5-2 win at home in 2015.
UC Santa Barbara, which entered the day unbeaten in Big West play and receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, fell to 9-3-3 overall and 3-1-2 in league.
Just three days after teammate Sean Battistessa netted a hat trick as part of Sacramento State's 5-0 shutout of CSUN on Wednesday (Oct. 16), Sessoms recorded what is believed to be the ninth hat trick in school history and the duo became the second set of teammates to finish with a hat trick in the same season joining Jamel Mitchell and Martin Sims, who did so against San Diego and UNLV, respectively, in 1994.
Meanwhile, the nine goals on the year for Sessoms now has him one shy of the school's single-season top 10, posting the most goals in a year since Chris Bettencourt finished with 11 goals in 2010. Max Alvarez, who had 10 goals in 2009, and Jamel Mitchell, who had 10 in 1996, currently hold down the No. 10 spot.
Coupled with his game-winner against CSUN earlier in the week, Sessoms now has five game-winning goals on the season, ranking behind only Chris Bettencourt on the school's single-season list. Bettencourt finished with six during that aforementioned 2010 campaign.
Sessoms' first score came just 3:28 into the contest as
Axel Ramirez intercepted a soft pass by a Gaucho defender inside the box and sent a pass across the top of the six. Sessoms ran onto the ball, took a touch and fired a left-footed shot underneath the UCSB goalkeeper to the left side for the 1-0 lead.
Ramirez's helper was his career-high fourth assist of the year.
The Gauchos equallized in the 13th minute as Nemo Philipp played Ocean Salari down the right side who sailed a low cross into the box for Zac Siebenlist, who flicked it home at the right post to tie the match.
The score remained that way through the half and into the second when Sessoms again found the touch in the 59th minute. Sophomore
Zac Giles looped a clearing pass down field where it bounced over two sets of defenders and fell at the feet of
Simon Vaca-Lorenzi.
Vaca-Lorenzi took a few dribbles to midfield before playing Sessoms into space down the left side. The sophomore won a foot race with a UCSB defender before putting on the brakes and powering a right-footed shot inside the left post to regain the lead.
Nine minutes later, Sessoms completed the hat trick in the 68th minute, again off a feed from Vaca-Lorenzi. Freshman
Angad Singh played a ball to midfield for Sessoms, who flicked it on to Vaca-Lorenzi making a run down the right side. Vaca-Lorenzi settled and cut to the middle inside his defender before playing it back out to Sessoms on the left side.
The sophomore then went one-on-one with the Gaucho goalkeeper before firing back to the right side for the final 3-1 lead.
For Giles, it was his team-best fifth assist of the year — the most since Tyler Moss had six in 2021 — while Vaca-Lorenzi added the first two assists of his career to go with his goal earlier this season at Cal Poly.
Overall, the Gauchos held a 16-11 shot advantage, but Sacramento State was able to put six of their attempts on goal while the Hornet backline limited UC Santa Barbara to only four. Senior goalkeeper
Mac Learned finished with three saves in the contest.
Sessoms led all players with eight shots in the match and six on goal. The six on frame are the most since
Francisco Magana had the same number en route to his hat trick against Gonzaga on Sept. 11, 2022, while the eight shots overall are the most by a Hornet since Edwin Luna had eight against San Francisco on Sept. 12, 2013.
Sacramento State hits the road for the final time in the 2024 regular season, making a trip to Orange County to take on Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday (Oct. 23) and UC Irvine on Saturday (Oct. 26).
