SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After nearly two decades without a head-to-head meeting, the Sacramento State and San Diego State men's soccer programs will renew their rivalry this week, clashing in San Diego on Friday (Sept. 6) at 7 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #4
WHAT: Sacramento State (0-3 overall) at San Diego State (2-2 overall)
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 6, 2024
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: San Diego, Calif.
STADIUM: SDSU Sports Deck
WATCH: WAC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: GoAztecs.com
GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | San Diego State
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 DIEGO STATE
• The Aztecs enter the week with a 2-2 overall record, alternating wins and losses over their first four matches of the year
• San Diego State opened with a win over UC Riverside (5-2) and defeated Mercyhurst College (2-1), while falling at city rival San Diego (3-0) and against Vermont (1-0)
• Although the match against the Toreros was a road game, the Aztecs have yet to leave the city of San Diego for a match this year
• Friday against the Hornets marks the fourth home match in the first five for SDSU to start the 2024 campaign
• San Diego State was picked to finish third in the WAC this season behind Seattle and California Baptist
• Senior forward Robbie Matei (a two-time Patriot League selection at American University) and junior forward Austin Brummett (a preseason All-WAC selection) share the team lead with two goals and four points apiece, while Brummett paces the team with 13 shots
• Senior goalkeepers Eddy Vargas and Djibril Doumbia have split time in net, with Vargas playing the majority of minutes (225) while posting a 1.20 goals against average and eight saves on the year
WAIT... WE KNOW YOU
• Friday's meeting with the Aztecs will be the first between the two programs since they were rivals in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation from 1992-95 and 1999-2004
SERIES NOTABLES
• San Diego State leads the all-time series by a 4-2-3 count, but Sacramento State won the last meeting, 2-0, at home back on Oct. 31, 2004
• Prior to that, the Aztecs were unbeaten (2-0-2) in the previous four meetings with the Hornets
• Sacramento State has never won on San Diego State's home field, with the Aztces posting a 2-0-2 mark in four matches
• The last meeting in San Diego was on Oct. 15, 2004, with SDSU posting a 2-1 win
• The Hornets were 2-1-2 against the Aztecs in MPSF matches as league rivals
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is 60-49-11 against the current Western Athletic Conference alignment, having faced eight of the 10 members
• San Diego State is the third WAC opponent for the Hornets in the team's first four matches, having already faced Utah Valley (Aug. 22) at home and San Jose State (Sept. 1) on the road
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 13 saves ranks second in the Big West entering the week, while his 4.33 saves per match pace the conference
• Entering the week, Learned ranks No. 53 in the NCAA in saves per match while standing No. 54 in total saves
• Learned's 133 career saves are just four shy of breaking onto the school's career top-10 list, trailing Ryan Duncan (1997-98), who finished with 137 in his two seasons
• Learned's 88 saves in 2023 were good for ninth on the program's single-season list
SO FRESH, SO CLEAN
• A pair of freshmen combined to get the Hornets on the board early at San Jose State last weekend as Ethan Kelly and Vincent Padilla teamed up in the 14th minute for a 1-0 lead on the Spartans
• Kelly's finish off Padilla's pass netted the Rocklin, Calif., native his first collegiate goal while Padilla tallied his first career point with the helper
• Five of the Hornets' six points this season have come from newcomers to the roster after sophomore transfer Donovan Sessoms (UNLV) scored his first career goal just four minutes into the season opener against Utah Valley on Aug. 22
• With that goal, 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 season opener
CORNERED
• Sacramento State finished the match against San Jose State with a 10-3 advantage in corner kicks -- all 10 of those coming in the second half
• It was the highest single-match total for corners since the Hornets had the same number at Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 14 of last season
IT'S A START
• Five players have started every match for the Hornets thus far this season: freshman Sean Battistessa, senior Bryan Gutierrez, senior Mac Learned, senior Axel Ramirez, and senior Ali Sasankhah
• Both Gutierrez and Sasankhah have played in 263 of a possible 270 minutes on the year to lead the team, while Learned has played all 270 minutes in net
INTRODUCING...
• Freshman Zach Castrence became the latest Hornet to make his collegiate debut, playing 45 minutes against San Jose State
• He became the 11th Sacramento State newcomer to make their debuts in the green and gold this season
OH, SAY CAN YOU WCC?
• With schools around the country switching conferences on a seemingly yearly basis, Sacramento State may want to think about applying for affiliate membership in the West Coast Conference as the Hornets are scheduled to face five of the league's nine soccer-playing members on the men's side in 2024
• All five contests will come consecutively beginning with a Sept. 12 match at home against San Francisco and concluding with a trip to Portland to take on the Pilots on Sept. 27
• In between, the Hornets will face Saint Mary's (Sept. 15) and Santa Clara (Sept. 19) on the road and host Pacific (Sept. 22)
• Sacramento State has become a regular WCC opponent over the last five seasons, taking on at least five league members in that time span
THE ROAD MOST TRAVELED
• The season opener against Utah Valley is the first of seven home matches during the regular season, but the only home appearance for the Hornets until Sept. 12 when San Francisco pays a visit to the capital city
• Following the home opener against Utah Valley, six of Sacramento State's next eight non-conference matches will be played away from home
• The seven home matches 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)
ALL TIED UP
• The Hornets' four draws in 2023 were tied for the second-most in school history, trailing only the seven set during an 11-5-7 campaign in 2010
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 off of last season's squad
• 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
