SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State men's soccer team continues its run against West Coast Conference opponents this week, traveling to Santa Clara on Thursday (Sept. 19) before hosting Pacific on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 22). Kick-off in Santa Clara is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., while the Hornets and Tigers begin at 4 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #7
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-4) at Santa Clara (3-2-1)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Santa Clara, Calif.
STADIUM: Stevens Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: SantaClaraBroncos.com
MATCH #8
WHAT: Pacific (2-2-1) at Sacramento State (2-4)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | Santa Clara | Pacific
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, when available, on the men's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com
SCOUTING SANTA CLARA
• The Broncos enter the week with a 3-2-1 overall record and are unbeaten in their last three after wins over Boston University (2-1) and San Jose State (2-1), as well as a 1-1 draw with Grand Canyon
• Santa Clara will be playing only its third home match of the year, going 1-0-1 in its previous two
• Excluding draws, four of the team's five remaining matches have been decided by a goal
• Graduate midfielder Florian Deletioglu leads the team with three goals and six points on 15 shots
• Goalkeeper Jack Stoecker has started five of the team's six matches, posting a 1.00 goals against average and 13 saves (.722 save percentage)
SERIES NOTABLES
• Santa Clara leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 19-2-1
• The Broncos have never lost to the Hornets at home, posting a perfect 12-0 record
• The two programs haven't met since the 2021 season with Santa Clara posting a 4-1 win
• Sacramento State's two wins in the series came in 2000 (2-1) and 2010 (2-1) -- both coming on its home turf and the latter in the NCAA Tournament
• The lone draw in the series also came in 2010 during the regular season in Sacramento
SCOUTING PACIFIC
• The Tigers enter the week with a 2-2-1 overall record after drawing at CSUN (0-0) and falling to UC Santa Barbara (1-0) last week
• Pacific is 1-1 at home this year, posting a 1-0 win over UC Davis in its season opener in addition to the result against the Gauchos
• The Tigers have scored only three goals all season while surrendering just four
• Two of those goals have come off the foot of forward Vincent Zingel, who leads the team with four points on seven shots
• Senior goalkeeper Joshua Moya has played every minute in net, posting a 0.80 goals against average and 28 saves (.875 save percentage) to go with three shutouts
SERIES NOTABLES
• Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Pacific, 4-2-3
• The Hornets are unbeaten in their last three meetings (2-0-1) with the Tigers
• Sacramento State is 2-1-2 at home against Pacific with the two teams ending in a draw in the last two meetings in 2019 and 2022
• The five goals scored by the Hornets last season in Stockton were the second-most in the history of the series, trailing only the six goals scored by Sacramento State in the first-ever meeting in 1992
CONFERENCE CALL
• This week's matches are the third and the fourth in a run of five straight against West Coast Conference opponents
• 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 42-72-19 record against the conference
• The two victories over San Francisco and Saint Mary's last week snapped a three-match losing skid against WCC opponents
DUO PICKS UP BIG WEST WEEKLY HONORS
• Sophomore Donovan Sessoms and freshman Fernando Venegas were named the Big West Conference Offensive and Freshman Players of the Week, respectively, on Sept. 16
• Sessoms became only the eighth different Hornet to earn weekly offensive honors from the league, while Venegas is only the third to pick up freshman honors
• Both earned the first honors of their respective careers from the league office
• Sessoms' award was the first offensive player of the week for Sacramento State since Dominic Vegaalban on Sept. 11, 2023, while Venegas is the first freshman of the week for the Hornets since goalkeeper Edgar Guerra on Oct. 24, 2022
IT'S A MAJOR AWARD
• In addition to his weekly award from the Big West Conference, Venegas was one of 11 players named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Sept. 17
DOUBLE W'S
• Not only did the Hornets pick up their first win of the season last week against San Francisco, Sacramento State put together back-to-back victories for the first time since winning three straight against Utah Tech, Air Force, and Pacific on Aug. 31-Sept. 7 of last season
YOU GET A GOAL, YOU GET A GOAL
• Sacramento State's four-goal outburst at Saint Mary's last week marked the program's highest goal output since the Hornets put up five at Pacific last season
• All four of Sacramento State's goals against the Gaels came in the second half, marking the program's best single-half goal total since putting home four goals in the second half of a 5-1 win over Cal Poly on Oct. 21, 2017
BRACE YOURSELVES, GOALS ARE COMING
• Venegas' award-winning week saw the Antelope, Calif., native follow up his first career assist against San Francisco with his first career goals at Saint Mary's three days later
• It was 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 Pacific last year
WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
• Sessoms was in the right place at the right time last week as both of his goals against San Francisco and Saint Mary's went for game-winning scores
• 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
• 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
THREE FOR SEVEN
• It took only seven minutes for the Hornets to take control of the match at Saint Mary's last Sunday, scoring three times in that span after trailing 1-0 at the break
• Following junior Hasan Alsakati's game-tying goal in the 62nd minute, it took only 2:15 for Venegas to break a 1-1 tie and Sessoms to make it a two-goal lead
• It was the shortest amount of time between two consecutive Sacramento State goals since Titus Washington and Dominic Vegaalban needed only 69 seconds to put the Hornets up 2-0 at Air Force on Sept. 3 of last season
• The 7:16 between Alsakati's and Sessoms' bookend scores are the quickest since Cody Shields, Max Alvarez, and Adam Bettencourt needed only 4:18 to score three times in a win over Jessup University on Sept. 9, 2011
CORNERED
• Sacramento State racked up 16 combined corner kicks in its two matches last week, giving the Hornets a total of 40 on the season
• The Hornets stand third in the Big West in corners entering the week, while leading the league with 6.67 per match
• Sacramento State ranks No. 13 in the NCAA in corners per match, standing behind San Francisco and Virginia, which share the lead with 8.00 per match
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 33 saves, 5.50 saves per match, and .786 save percentage are tops in the Big West as of Sept. 16
• Entering the week, Learned ranks No. 5 in the NCAA in total saves behind leader Stockton Short of Utah Tech (44) 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
• After last week, Learned's 153 career saves rank 10th on the school's all-time top 10 list, putting him seven saves shy of 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
SHOT CALLERS
• The Hornets' 18 shots at Saint Mary's were a season high and the most since they outshot Cal State Bakersfield, 20-10, on Sept. 28, 2022 on the road
