SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sophomore Donovan Sessoms scored a pair of first-half goals and the defense held strong down the stretch in a one-score match as Sacramento State picked up three points in the Big West Conference standings with a 2-1 victory over UC Riverside on Saturday evening.
The victory improved the Hornets to 4-5-2 overall on the year and 1-1 in conference play, while the Highlanders fell to 2-5-2 overall and 0-1-1 in league. The win was the fourth in the last seven matches for Sacramento State following a winless start, improving to 4-1-2 in that stretch.
Sessoms became the second Hornet player to finish with two goals in a match this year, joining teammate Fernando Venegas' pair as part of a four-goal effort in a 4-2 win at Saint Mary's on Sept. 15.
The Antelope, Calif., native put Sacramento State on the board first in the 15th minute as Stacy Holmes got the run started by poking away a UC Riverside pass at midfield. The ball fell to Axel Ramirez, who sent a through ball down the right to a streaking Sessoms.
There, Sessoms out-muscled his defender at the edge of the box and put a right-footed shot to the right post for the 1-0 lead.
Nine minutes later, Sessoms doubled the Sacramento State advantage as Zac Giles put a ball into the box for Sean Battistessa, who flicked it on to an on-rushing Sessoms in the middle. There, the sophomore shielded his defender well, holding him off long enough to punch a left-footed shot to the upper left corner for the 2-0 advantage.
Sessoms' five goals are the most by a Hornet since Francisco Magana finished with five goals and a pair of assists en route to a team-high 12 points in 2022. A sixth goal this year for Sessoms would be the most since Christian Webb finished with that many during the 2017 campaign.
UC Riverside answered in the 55th minute as Mika Sebastian Kosch got a head on a pass from Tarek Hamideh to halve the Highlanders' deficit, but they came no closer.
Senior goalkeeper Mac Learned finished with six saves and the defense turned away a UC Riverside squad that played down a man for the final 15 minutes after drawing a red card for a hard foul at midfield in the 75th minute, holding them to just one shot attempt in that span.
Both teams finished with 11 shots on the afternoon, with the Highlanders putting seven of those on frame and taking seven of the 10 corners in the match. Sessoms finished with a match-high four shots (three on goal), while Ramirez and Battistessa had two apiece.
Sacramento State takes to the road for its next two Big West contests, traveling to Cal Poly on Wednesday (Oct. 9) for a 7 p.m. kick-off in San Luis Obispo, before taking on UC San Diego on the road on Saturday (Oct. 12) at 7 p.m. in La Jolla.
