SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State men's soccer team is back on the road for two more Big West Conference contests, heading to the Central Coast to take on Cal Poly on Wednesday (Oct. 9) before traveling to Southern California to face UC San Diego on Saturday (Oct. 12). Kick-off for both matches is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #12
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-5-2, 1-1 Big West) at Cal Poly (4-3-4, 1-0-1 Big West)
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: San Luis Obispo, Calif.
STADIUM: Mustang Memorial Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoPoly.com

MATCH #13
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-5-2, 1-1 Big West) at UC San Diego (2-5-4, 1-1 Big West)
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: La Jolla, Calif.
STADIUM: Triton Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UCSDTritons.com

GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | Cal Poly | UC San Diego

SCOUTING CAL POLY
• The Mustangs enter the week with a 4-3-4 overall record and are in an early tie atop the Big West standings with a 1-0-1 record following a win over UC Davis (1-0) and a draw with No. 22 UC Santa Barbara (0-0)
• Cal Poly is one of three unbeaten Big West teams at home this season (3-0)
• The Mustangs are unbeaten in their last seven overall (4-0-3) dating back to a 3-2 loss at Tulsa on Sept. 1, posting five shutouts in that span
• Cal Poly's defense, which has surrendered only eight goals all year, hasn't allowed a goal since the 44th minute of a 1-1 draw against Utah Tech on Sept. 16 -- a span of 316:13
• Freshman midfielder Quinn Mahoney leads the team with three goals and nine points on the year
• Goalkeeper Nicky McCune has played all but three minutes in net, posting a 0.73 goals against average and 33 saves (.805 save percentage) to go with five clean sheets

SERIES NOTABLES
• Cal Poly leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 18-12-5
• The Mustangs and Hornets used to be rivals in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 1998 and 1999, with Cal Poly winning both
• Cal Poly leads the series as Big West rivals (since 2012), 8-6-3
• All that said, Sacramento State is unbeaten in the last three head-to-head meetings, sandwiching draws in 2021 and 2023 at home around a 4-0 win in San Luis Obispo in 2022
• The Mustangs are 13-6 at home against the Hornets, winning two of the last three trips to the coast
• Four of the last five meetings have ended in shutouts for either team

SCOUTING UC SAN DIEGO
• The Tritons enter the week with a 2-5-4 overall record and a 1-1 mark in Big West play after splitting with No. 22 UC Santa Barbara (L, 3-1) and CSUN (W, 1-0)
• After opening the year 0-4-1, UC San Diego is 2-1-3 in its last six
• The Tritons travel to Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday before hosting Sacramento State
• UCSD is winless on the road this year (0-2-3) with both of its victories coming at home (2-3-1)
• Senior forward Max Carvalho leads the team with three goals, three assists, and nine points, standing as one of five Tritons with multiple goals on the year
• Goalkeeper Nolan Premack has played every minute in net, posting a 1.64 goals against average and 49 saves (.731 save percentage) with a pair of shutouts

SERIES NOTABLES
• Saturday marks only the fourth all-time meeting between Sacramento State and UC San Diego since the latter made the jump to Division I
• The all-time series between the Hornets and the Tritons is tied at 1-1-1 after the two battled to a scoreless draw in Sacramento in 2023
• UCSD won the only meeting in La Jolla, Calif., by a 3-2 score in 2022
• Sacramento State's win in the series came in 2021 with a 2-1 overtime triumph at home

CLASS IS IN SESSOMS
• The second Hornet to finish with a brace this season, sophomore Donovan Sessoms powered the offense to a 2-1 win over UC Riverside last week for the team's first league win of the year
• Sessoms joined teammate Fernando Venegas with multi-goal matches this season after Venegas did so at Saint Mary's on Sept. 15
• The performance against the Highlanders boosted Sessoms' season goal total to five on the year -- the most since Francisco Magana finished with five goals and 12 points in 2022
• A sixth goal for Sessoms this year would be the most by a Hornet since Christian Webb finished with that many during the 2017 campaign
• Sessoms' 10 points mark the third straight season that a Sacramento State player has accumulated double-digit points: Magana, Dominic Vegaalban, and Austin Wehner in 2022, and Wehner in 2023

WE (WERE) GOING STREAKING!
• Although the Hornets' five-match unbeaten streak came to an end with their loss at Cal State Bakersfield last week, Sacramento State is still on an impressive run following an 0-4 start
• The Hornets are 4-1-2 in their last seven dating back to a Sept. 12 win against San Francisco
• Eleven of the team's 13 goals this year have come during that stretch
• It is the best seven-match run for Sacramento State since it went unbeaten in seven straight (5-0-2) from Aug. 28 to Sept. 18, 2022

WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
• Sessoms has been in the right place at the right time numerous times this year as three of his five goals have gone for game winners (San Francisco, Saint Mary's, and UC Riverside)
• The sophomore scored just 15 minutes in against the Dons -- a goal that stood up in a 1-0 victory -- while his score in the 69th minute against the Gaels proved to be the decisive score in a 4-2 victory
• He scored twice in a 10-minute span against the Highlanders in a 2-1 win, with his goal in the 24th minute standing as the final margin
• It marks the 17th straight season that the Hornets have had at least one player with multiple game-winners and the most since Alex Bettencourt and Nate Nugen had three such scores during the 2016 campaign
• Sessoms' two game winners enter the week tied for the top spot in the Big West with UC Santa Barbara's Alexis Ledoux and are tied for No. 3 in the NCAA behind Charleston's Leonardo D'Ambrosio and Bowling Green's Trace Terry, who have four winners each

STOP! HALT! ARRET! ALTO! FERMA!
• You get the picture. One of the nation's top shot stoppers (more on that later...) has picked up right where he left off in 2023, as senior goalkeeper Mac Learned's 56 saves and 5.09 saves per match are tops in the Big West, while his .778 save percentage stands second as of Oct. 7
• Entering the week, Learned ranks No. 3 in the NCAA in total saves behind leader Jamie Barry of Niagara (66) and stands No. 10 in the nation in saves per game
• The nine saves in the shutout of San Francisco on Sept. 12 were a season high and the second-highest total of his career, trailing on his 10 stops against the Dons on the road last year
• They also remain tied for the most by a Big West keeper this season, matching UC San Diego's Nolan Premack, who had nine stops against Duke on Aug. 25
• Learned's seven saves at San Diego State on Sept. 6 -- and again at Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 2 -- are fourth on that same list
• After last week, Learned's 176 career saves rank ninth on the school's all-time top 10 list, closing in on Ryan Curtis' (2018-19, 2021) total of 182 for eighth place
• Learned's total this year are nearly two-thirds of the way to his 88 saves in 2023, which were good for ninth on the program's single-season list

HELP ME, HELP YOU
• Aside from Hasan Alsakati's penalty kick goal in a road win at Santa Clara on Sept. 19, only one of the Hornets' remaining 12 scores has gone unassisted (Donovan Sessoms' score at Saint Mary's on Sept. 15)
• Sophomore Zac Giles and senior Axel Ramirez lead the team with three assists each, standing just one back of Austin Wehner's and Cody Sundquist's team-high total from 2023
• The three assists for Giles and Ramirez also rank them tied for fifth in overall assists and tied for ninth in assists per game in the Big West Conference entering the week

YOU GET A GOAL! YOU GET A GOAL!
• Six players have accounted for the Hornets' last 11 goals: Donovan Sessoms (4), Hasan Alsakati (2), Fernando Venegas (2), Stacy Holmes, Ethan Kelly, and Sean Battistessa

"POINT"-ING THE WAY
• Sean Battistessa's and Lucas Bost's first career points at Portland made then the seventh and eighth different Hornets to collect their first career goal or assist in 2024: Stacy Holmes (first career goal), Ethan Kelly (first career goal), Montgomery Carey (first career assist), Fernando Venegas (first career goal and assist), Vincent Padilla (first career assist), and Gio Ceja (first career assist)
• Meanwhile a ninth -- sophomore Donovan Sessoms -- has recorded his first career points as a Hornet this year after his first career goal came during his first year at UNLV in 2023

THE ROAD MOST TRAVELED
• The seven home matches in 2024 are the fewest for the Hornets since the 2018 squad played the same number on its home turf
• Three of those home matches will come prior to the start of Big West play — the third time in the last four seasons that Sacramento State will play so few non-conference contests at home
• In fact, the Hornets will play back-to-back home matches only once all year, hosting CSUN and UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 16 and 19