MORAGA, Calif. — Sacramento State freshman Fernando Venegas netted his first two career goals as part of a four-goal second half for the Hornets' men's soccer team while junior Hasan Alsakati and sophomore Donovan Sessoms also found the back of the net on Sunday evening, helping push their side past homestanding Saint Mary's for a 4-2 victory at Saint Mary's Stadium in Moraga, Calif.
The triumph was the second consecutive win for Sacramento State, which improved to 2-4 overall on the season while scoring the most goals in a match since it downed Pacific, 5-2, on Sept. 7 of last season. The Hornets posted their highest single half goal total since putting home four scores in the second half of a 5-1 win over Cal Poly on Oct. 21, 2017.
Saint Mary's fell to 1-4-2 overall with the defeat.
Venegas, who also had the game-winning assist in Sacramento State's 1-0 win over San Francisco on Thursday (Sept. 12), logged the first multi-goal match by a Hornet since Bryan Gutierrez scored twice and Dominic Vegaalban had a hat trick in the aforementioned win over the Tigers last season.
However, Sacramento State was the one chasing a goal early after a foul in the box led to a penalty for the Gaels just 3:55 into the match as the Gaels' Bastian Toelhoej converted the attempt for the 1-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the 62nd minute when Hasan Alsakati broke up the shutout with his first goal of the season to tie the match and spark a run of three goals in seven minutes. Stacy Holmes took the ball at the top of the 18 on the right side before passing across the top back to Alsakati, who created some space before unleashing a right-footed shot to the upper right side of the net for the score.
Five minutes later it was Venegas with his first as Gio Ceja's corner found the head of his teammate, who powered a shot to the upper left side of the net for the first goal of Venegas' collegiate career that put the Hornets ahead to stay. The assist also marked the first point of Ceja's Sacramento State career.
Two minutes later it was sophomore
Donovan Sessoms who tallied the eventual game-winner, blocking a pass near midfield before out-racing the defense the other way, cutting to his right and using a quick hesitation move before poking home his third of the season to the center of the net for the 3-1 advantage.
The host Gaels pulled one back a minute later as Luke Lawrence curled home a free kick from the right side to make it a one-goal contest once again, but that's as close as Saint Mary's would get.
Following a tremendous sequence where goalkeeper
Mac Learned and the defense turned away a pair of potential game-tying attempts following a fortuitous bounce after a header at midfield had Saint Mary's on the doorstep in the 82nd minute, it was Venegas with the dagger in the 83rd minute, punching home a corner by Ceja from point-blank range that was headed back through traffic by freshman
Montgomery Carey and senior
Axel Ramirez for the final 4-2 score.
Both teams finished with 18 shots for the match while the Hornets put 11 of theirs on frame compared to just six for Saint Mary's. The 18 shot attempts by Sacramento State were a season high and the most since the Hornets out-shot Cal State Bakersfield, 20-10, on Sept. 28, 2022, on the road.
Alsakati finished with five attempts (four on frame), followed by Venegas with four and three apiece from Gutierrez and Sessoms.
Sacramento State continues its run of five straight against the West Coast Conference with a pair of matches on the road next week, traveling to Santa Clara on Thursday (Sept. 19) before hosting Pacific on Sunday (Sept. 22).
