SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sophomore Donovan Sessoms netted his second goal of the year just 15 minutes into Thursday's contest and the Sacramento State defense made it stand up, withstanding a barrage of 23 shot attempts from San Francisco to post its first victory of the year -- a 1-0 triumph over the Dons at Hornet Soccer Field.
The win improved the Hornets to 1-4 overall on the year and marked the team's fourth consecutive one-goal result. USF remained winless on the year, falling to 0-4-2 overall.
Sessoms wasted little time in putting home the eventual game-winner taking a long feed from teammate Fernando Venegas from near the top of Sacramento State's 18 to just past midfield and racing to the left side of the box.
There, Sessoms held off his defender and launched a left-footed rocket underneath a diving San Francisco keeper back across the box to the right post for the 1-0 lead.
It was Sessoms' second goal in under 15 minutes of a match this year as he netted his first career strike as a Hornet just four minutes into Sacramento State's season-opener against Utah Valley back on Aug. 22. Meanwhile, Venegas tallied his first collegiate point with the assist in only his seventh career match.
From that point on, it was the defense's turn to stand tall as senior goalkeeper
Mac Learned stopped all nine shots sent his way — a season-high total and the second-most in a match in his career, trailing only the 10 stops against the Dons last year on Sept. 17 in San Francisco — while the Hornets blocked four attempts in the first half to lead at the break.
In the second half, Sacramento State defenders blocked five more attempts while Learned made three more stops to secure the clean sheet.
Opening a run of five-straight matches against West Coast Conference opponents with Thursday's match, the Hornets next hit the road on Sunday (Sept. 15) for a 5 p.m. kick-off at Saint Mary's.
