SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Finally home following a run of three straight on the road, the Sacramento State men's soccer team hosts San Francisco on Thursday (Sept. 12) at 4 p.m., before hitting the road once again to take on Saint Mary's on Sunday (Sept. 15) at 5 p.m. in Moraga, Calif. The home match against the Dons will be the first on the Hornets' home pitch since they opened the year against Utah Valley back on Aug. 22. Thursday's match against USF will be the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team, which hosts CSUN at 1 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #5
WHAT: San Francisco (0-3-2) at Sacramento State (0-4)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
MATCH #6
WHAT: Sacramento State (0-4) at Saint Mary's (1-2-2)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024
TIME: 5 p.m.
WHERE: Moraga, Calif.
STADIUM: Saint Mary's Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: SMCGaels.com
GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | San Francisco | Saint Mary's
WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• Every home match during the 2024 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 SAN FRANCISCO
• The Dons enter the week at 0-3-2 overall on the season having lost three straight on the road to Omaha (1-0), Creighton (4-2), and No. 11 Seattle (3-2)
• Thursday's match against Sacramento State is the fourth in a run of five straight road contests for San Francisco, which opened the year with draws against Cal Poly (0-0) and Kansas City (2-2) at home
• The Dons have been outscored 10-6 on the year, but they have out-shot their opponents by a wide margin, 80-49, through five contests
• San Francisco has out-shot every opponent this year, including a 25-7 margin against the ranked Redhawks in its last match
• Senior midfielder Gabriel Bracken Serra leads the team with a pair of goals and four points, putting five of his nine shots on frame
• Four other USF players have found the back of the net
• Senior goalkeeper Eric Waltz has played every minute in net, posting a 2.00 goals against average and 14 saves (.583 save percentage)
SERIES NOTABLES
• San Francisco leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a count of 10-7-4
• The Dons have won the last three meetings with the Hornets, including a 1-0 win in San Francisco last year
• Sacramento State is 3-3-2 against USF at home, but lost the last meeting at Hornet Field by a 2-1 score on Sept. 22, 2022
• The Hornets' last win in the series also came at home, posting a 4-2 victory over San Francisco on Sept. 19, 2019
• The last three meetings between the two programs have all been decided by a single goal
• Sacramento State's last two wins in the series (2018 & 2019) saw the Hornets score three-or-more goals in each of those wins
• The Hornets have scored multiple goals in six of their seven wins against the Dons, while all four draws have ended with a 1-1 score
• After opening the series just 1-5-1, Sacramento State was 7-3-3 against USF from 1996-2019
SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S
• The Gaels are 1-2-2 overall entering the week and will host UC Davis on Thursday (Sept. 12) prior to welcoming Sacramento State
• Saint Mary's is coming off a pair of road draws last week, tying both Boston University (1-1) and Dartmouth (2-2) following a 4-1 loss at No. 13 Stanford on Sept. 1
• The Gaels' only win came by a 2-0 score at home against Cal Poly on Aug. 25
• Junior midfielder Bastian Toelhoej and senior forward Jude Zamora lead the team with a goal and an assist apiece
• Junior defender Luke Lawrence leads the squad with a pair of assists
• Freshman goalkeeper Sam Bentley has started four of the five matches in net, posting a 1.75 goals against average and 12 saves (.632 save percentage)
SERIES NOTABLES
• Saint Mary's leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 17-8-8
• The eight draws in the series are the most against any one opponent in the program's history dating back to 1986
• The Gaels won last year's meeting between the two programs, 3-2, in Sacramento, avenging a 4-1 Hornet win in Moraga in 2022
• Saint Mary's is 5-1-1 in the last seven meetings
• Five of Sacramento State's eight wins in the series have come on the road, where the Hornets are 5-8-4 against the Gaels
• Sacramento State and Saint Mary's are 2-2 in the last four matches played in Moraga
• The two teams posted five consecutive draws in the series from 2009-14, with each team scoring three goals in those contests
CONFERENCE CALL
• Thursday's match against San Francisco opens a run of five-straight matches against opponents from the West Coast Conference
• The Hornets also face Saint Mary's (Sept. 15), Santa Clara (Sept. 19), Pacific (Sept. 22), and Portland (Sept. 27)
• This year marks the sixth consecutive season that Sacramento State will face at least five WCC opponents, with San Francisco, Saint Mary's, and Pacific on the schedule in each of those six seasons
• The Hornets have faced all eight of the league's current men's soccer-playing members (Pepperdine doesn't have men's soccer), posting a 40-72-19 record against the conference
• Sacramento State has lost its last three matches against WCC opponents dating back to a 5-2 win over Pacific on Sept. 7
HORNET NEWCOMER KELLY RECOGNIZED BY TOP DRAWER SOCCER
• Freshman forward Ethan Kelly was one of 11 players from across the country named to Top Drawer Soccer's preseason "Best XI" all-freshman team
• He was the only player from the West Coast to earn a spot, joining student-athletes from Georgetown, Princeton, Clemson, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Saint Louis, Davidson, Cornell, Tulsa, and Notre Dame
• When you include the first-, second-, and third-team honorees, Kelly is one of two Big West players to be recognized along with Cal State Fullerton's Roberto Ordonez, who was named to the "Best XI" third team
• Kelly competed for the Sacramento Republic FC Academy team and signed a contract to play alongside the first team in 2023 after spending time with the U17 squad, helping the club to back-to-back MLS NEXT Cup playoff appearances while making his first-team debut on April 5, 2023
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 20 saves ranks second in the Big West entering the week, while his 5.00 saves per match pace the conference
• Entering the week, Learned ranks No. 17 in the NCAA in saves per match while standing No. 33 in total saves
• After the last week, Learned's 140 career saves moved him into the school's all-time top 10 list, ranking him 10th after passing Ryan Duncan (1997-98), who finished with 137 in his two seasons
• Learned needs 20 more saves to catch Andy Hegelein's total of 160 stops in 1986, which stands ninth on the career chart; However, Hegelein's career numbers are incomplete as his totals from 1985 are unavailable
• Learned's 88 saves in 2023 were good for ninth on the program's single-season list
IT'S A START
• Only three players have started every match for the Hornets thus far this season: senior Bryan Gutierrez, senior Mac Learned, and senior Axel Ramirez
• Learned has played every minute (360) thus far this season in net through the first four contests, while Gutierrez has played all but seven in the field for the Hornets
CORNERED
• After posting a season-high 10 corner kicks (all in the second half) at San Jose State on Sept. 1, the Hornets continued to pressure opposing defenses at San Diego State last week, earning eight more
• The team's 24 corner kicks overall are tied for third in the Big West Conference entering the week, while the 6.00 corners per match are tied for second behind only Cal Poly (37 overall, 6.17 per match)
• The 10 corners against the Spartans were the most in a single match since the Hornets had the same number at Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 14 of last season
SO FRESH, SO CLEAN
• Newcomers have played a big part in the Hornets' offense to start 2024 as freshman Ethan Kelly and sophomore transfer Donovan Sessoms have each found the back of the net, while freshman Vincent Padilla has tallied an assist
• With his goal four minutes into the match against Utah Valley (Aug. 22), Sessoms became the first Hornet to score a goal in his debut in the green and gold since freshman Axel Ramirez did so in 2021 on a penalty against San Francisco in the opener
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 Conference 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
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL
• When Sacramento State and Utah Valley kicked off in the second match of a doubleheader with the women's team on Aug. 22, it marked the earliest season opener for the Hornets dating back to the 1986 campaign
• That match bested the previous earliest start of Aug. 24 in both the 2012 (at Oregon State) and 2018 (at No. 22 Portland) seasons
HELLO, MY NAME IS...
• This year's version of the Hornets will look drastically different as Sacramento State welcomes 14 newcomers and returns a pair of redshirts in addition to its 13 returning letter winners
• It's the most newcomers on a roster for Sacramento State since the 2019 squad featured 16 new faces
RETURN OF THE MAC
• Senior goalkeeper Mac Learned comes back for his fifth season in the green and gold and is the incumbent in net for the Hornets after starting 16 matches in 2023
• Learned spent six straight weeks atop the NCAA leaderboard in total saves, finishing the year ranked No. 3 nationally with 88 saves and No. 7 in saves per game (5.50)
• The Lincoln, Calif., native also ended the year leading the Big West in overall saves, saves per game, and save percentage (.779)
THE HORNETS, QUICKLY
• Sacramento State is coming off a 2023 campaign that saw the Hornets finish 4-10-4 overall and 1-4-4 in Big West Conference play
• This year's roster features 13 returning letter winners and returns five starters from last season
• By the numbers, the Hornets return only four of the team's 17 goals scored (Bryan Gutierrez, 2; Hasan Alsakati, 1; Simon Vaca-Lorenzi, 1) and two of the team's 18 assists (Alsakati & Zac Giles) from last season
DEAN OF COACHES
• Head Coach Michael Linenberger enters his 35th season at the helm of the Hornets' program in 2024, a position he has held since 1989
• Linenberger is the longest tenured head coach in the Big West in both overall years as a head coach and years at his current school, edging out UC Davis' Dwayne Shaffer (33 years overall and 28th with the Aggies) and UC Santa Barbara's Tim Vom Steeg (33 years overall and 26th with the Gauchos)
• Linenberger's 226 wins with the Hornets make him one of four Big West coaches to win at least 200 career matches at their current school entering the 2024 campaign, ranking third on that list behind only Vom Steeg (306) and Shaffer (248)
WE BAND OF BROTHERS
• For the second straight season, brothers Jhared (a junior) and Robert Willcot (a sophomore) will take the field for the Hornets
• The duo 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.
POLL POSITION
• Sacramento State was picked to finish in a tie for ninth in the 2024 race for the Big West Conference crown according to a vote of the league's head coaches released on Aug. 19
• The Hornets received 18 points to match Cal State Bakersfield for the spot in the poll
• Defending champion UC Irvine picked up four first-place votes and 75 points over to stand atop the coaches poll
• The Anteaters were followed by Cal State Fullerton (3 first-place votes, 66 overall) and UC Santa Barbara (3 first-place votes, 65 overall) to round out the top three
