SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State men's soccer team splits its time between the road and playing at home for the second straight week, facing Grand Canyon on Thursday (Aug. 28) at 7 p.m. in Phoenix, Ariz., before hosting Santa Clara on Sunday (Aug. 31) at 5 p.m. Sunday's match will be the nightcap of a doubleheader with the women's team, which hosts Fresno State at 11 a.m.

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #3
WHAT: Sacramento State (0-1-1 overall) at Grand Canyon (2-0 overall)
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025
WHERE: Phoenix, Ariz.
TIME: 7 PM
STADIUM: GCU Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GCULopes.com

MATCH #4
WHAT: Santa Clara (0-0-2 overall) at Sacramento State (0-1-1)
WHEN: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
TIME: 5 PM
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

WEEKLY NOTES: Sacramento State | Grand Canyon | Santa Clara | Big West Conference

THE HORNETS, QUICKLY
• Sacramento State is coming off a 2024 season that saw the Hornets finish 6-10-2 overall and 3-6 in the Big West Conference
• Fifteen letter winners and six starters return for the green and gold in 2025, while the roster features 12 total newcomers — six of transfers
• The Hornets return their top five scorers from a season ago led by All-Big West forward junior Donovan Sessoms, who ended the 2024 campaign with 10 goals and 20 points on 48 shots
• Big West All-Freshman Team selection Sean Battistessa brings back his five goals and an assist from his stellar collegiate debut
• In all, seven of the 10 players who found the back of the net for Sacramento State a season ago return, while junior Zac Giles brings back his team-high five assists
• There will be a new face in net for the Hornets with the departure of starter Mac Learned, as Lucas Bost is joined by transfers Andres Rosales (Cal Poly) and Brian Tufino (Taft College)
• Bost appeared in three matches in relief in 2024 (91 minutes), posting six saves without allowing a goal and adding an assist on the game-tying score in a 1-1 draw at Portland

SESSOMS EARNS PRESEASON HONORS
• Junior forward Donovan Sessoms was one of 11 student-athletes named to the preseason All-Big West Conference squad on Aug. 14
• Sessoms, an All-Big West first-team selection as a sophomore in 2024, became the seventh Hornet to earn preseason all-conference honors and the first since Austin Wehner in 2023
• He joins a group that also includes former standouts Cesar Castillo (2012), Isaac Ikyurav (2013), Brad Bumgarner (2016), Paul Goyer (2017), and Oscar Govea (2021)

SCOUTING GRAND CANYON
• The Lopes enter the week with a 2-0 record, opening with a 2-1 win over Jacksonville and a 3-1 triumph over Cleveland State
• Thursday's match marks the third in a run of five straight at home to start the year for GCU
• Freshman forward Junior Diouf leads the team with three goals and seven points over the first two matches of the season
• Graduate forward Ben Assane leads the team with two assists
• Freshman goalkeeper Gavin Atkinson has posted a 1.00 goals against average in his two starts, forced to make only three saves while facing seven shots in 180 minutes

SERIES NOTABLES
• This week marks only the third-ever meeting between Sacramento State and Grand Canyon in men's soccer
• Thursday marks the first meeting between the two schools in a decade dating back to the 2015 campaign
• The two programs have yet to play a regulation contest against one another in their history as the Lopes have posted wins of 1-0 (in Sacramento) and 2-1 (in Phoenix) in overtime in 2014 and 2015, respectively

SCOUTING SANTA CLARA
• The Broncos opened the 2025 season with a pair of draws last week, battling both Cleveland State and UC Davis to 1-1 decisions
• Santa Clara hosts Stanford on Thursday night before traveling to Sacramento
• Junior midfielder Niv Berkovitz and sophomore forward Simon Diagana were the goal scorers for the Broncos, while freshman midfielder Ethan Martinez posted a pair of assists
• Senior forward Tyler Tipton is the team's leading returning scorer after finishing with five goals and 10 points last year
• Senior goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn has played every minute between the pipes, making four saves (.667 save percentage) while facing only 11 shots through the first two contests
• Ozburn started five matches in 2024, posting a 2-3 record and 1.60 goals against

SERIES NOTABLES
• Santa Clara leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 19-3-1 count
• The Hornets, however, have won two of the last three meetings, posting 2-1 victories in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and last season's campaign sandwiched around a 4-1 defeat in 2021
• Last year's win in Santa Clara was the first-ever road win by Sacramento State in the series in 13 all-time chances
• Sunday marks the 11th meeting between the two in Sacramento, but the first regular season contest since a 1-1 double overtime draw earlier in that 2010 season
• The Broncos have won seven of the 10 matches in Sacramento
• All three of the Hornets' victories in the series have come by a 2-1 score

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is 62-60-15 against the current Western Athletic Conference alignment, having faced all eight of the league's programs
• Thursday's match against Grand Canyon will be the second of four contests against WAC opponents following last Sunday's draw with Utah Tech, with Utah Valley (Sept. 4), and San Jose State (Sept. 7) still on the docket
• Sacramento State is a combined 51-87-24 against the current West Coast Conference alignment, having faced all 10 of the league's men's soccer playing members
• Santa Clara is the first of four matches against WCC opponents this year with consecutive contests against Pacific (Sept. 11), San Francisco (Sept. 15), and Saint Mary's (Sept. 19) to follow
• The Hornets were 3-0-2 against WCC schools last season, last suffering a loss at San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2023

PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
• Junior forward Donovan Sessoms has wasted little time in building upon a resume that saw him score 10 goals and finish with 20 points last season in the green and gold
• Sessoms accounted for the team's first goal of the year by converting a penalty at No. 13 Stanford in the season opener, then added his first collegiate assist three days later in a draw against Utah Tech
• The three points for the week are the early leader in the clubhouse in the Big West after the first week, as are his seven shot attempts
• Sessoms' 11 goals and 23 points both rank third among active Big West players
• Last season, Sessoms was third in the Big West with 48 shots and led the league with 2.67 shots per match, while standing fifth in the league in points, fourth in points per game (1.11), fourth in goals, and third in goals per game (0.56)

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
• Prior to the team's season opener at Stanford, Sessoms picked up yet another preseason honor, named to Top Drawer Soccer's national preseason top 100 list
• Sessoms was ranked No. 63 in the nation according to the organization, standing as one of five Big West players on the list and the third-highest ranked player among that quintet
• Cal Poly goalkeeper Nick McCune (No. 10), Mustang defender Parker Owens (No. 37), UC Davis forward Cason Goodman (No. 69), and UC Santa Barbara defender Calle Mollerberg (No. 96) round out the Big West contingent

ON THE SPOT
• With Sessoms' penalty at Stanford in the season opener, the Hornets have now converted their last 11 consecutive tries from the spot dating back to a miss at San Francisco on Sept. 23, 2018
• Prior to that, Sacramento State made eight straight penalties, extending their streak to 19 of its last 20 dating back to 2015

BATTISTESSA'S BACK
• The other half of the Hornets' 1-2 scoring punch from 2024 also needed only two matches to get into the scoring column as sophomore Sean Battistessa headed home his first of the year to put his team up midway through the second versus Utah Tech
• The goal was Battistessa's sixth of his brief career in the green and gold after finishing with five goals and an assist for 11 points in 2024 en route to Big West All-Freshman Team honors

IRON SHARPENS IRON
• Sacramento State's 2025 schedule features three NCAA Tournament qualifiers from a season ago and six schools that finished inside the final top 100 in the end-of-season RPI rankings
• Stanford (third round), along with Big West Conference rivals UC Santa Barbara (second round) and UC Davis (first round) make up the NCAA Tournament trio
• The Cardinal leads the group among the top 100 in the RPI, finishing 2024 at No. 12 
• They are followed by the Gauchos (No. 28), the Aggies (No. 54), San Francisco (No. 70), UC Irvine (No. 72), and Cal State Fullerton (No. 90) • Six more were among the top 150 in Cal State Bakersfield (No. 102), Cal Poly (No. 107), Utah Valley (No. 111), Pacific (No. 130), UC Riverside (No. 145), and San Jose State (No. 149)
• For comparison, Sacramento State ended the year ranked No. 139 in the final RPI rankings

DEAN OF COACHES
• Head Coach Michael Linenberger enters his 36th season at the helm of the Hornets' program in 2025, 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 (34 years overall and 29th with the Aggies) and UC Santa Barbara's Tim Vom Steeg (34 years overall and 27th with the Gauchos)
• Linenberger's 232 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 2025 campaign, ranking third on that list behind only Vom Steeg (318) and Shaffer (258)

FORMER HORNET JOINS THE BENCH
• Former Sacramento State goalkeeper Hector "Keko" Grajeda has returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for 2025
• The Stockton native was a member of the Hornets' roster in 2019 and 2020 following two seasons at Cosumnes River College where he was the Big 8 Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and a first-team all-league selection
• Grajeda graduated from Sacramento State as a member of the Dean's List with his degree in sociology

HORNETS AND THE PROS
• Junior forward Donovan Sessoms was selected with the first pick of the third round in last winter's MLS SuperDraft by the expansion side San Diego FC
• He was the first Hornet to be taken in the draft since Chimdum Mez in the fourth round in 2015 by San Jose and the fifth to be drafted in school history along with Brandon Cavitt (1996 College Draft, Dallas Burn), Ernesto Carranza (2011 Supplemental Draft, Chivas USA), and Fernando Cabadas (2011 Supplemental Draft, New England Revolution)
• Meanwhile, Mac Learned signed with NYCFC II in MLS NEXT Pro following his standout senior campaign, having started nine matches and making 38 saves to go along with a 2.00 goals against average and a shutout in 810 minutes

WE BAND OF BROTHERS
• For the third consecutive season, the Hornets will feature a set of brothers on the roster as sophomore Sean Battistessa will be joined by his younger brother, Evan
• The duo is believed to be the fourth set of brothers to play soccer at Sacramento State in the same season, joining Blake and Brady Nunes (2007-08), Ivan and Omar Oseguera (2017-18), and Jhared and Robert Willcot (2023-24)
• 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