SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State men's soccer team looks to finish off non-conference play on a high note this week, hosting Saint Mary's on Friday (Sept. 19) at 4 p.m. It is the first of a season-long three-match stretch at home for the Hornets, who open Big West Conference play at home against Cal State Bakersfield (Oct. 1) and Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 4).
MATCH #9
WHAT: Saint Mary's (0-3-3) at Sacramento State (1-6-1 overall)
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 19, 2025
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
TIME: 4 PM PT
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
WEEKLY NOTES: Sacramento State | Saint Mary's | Big West Conference
SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S
• The Gaels enter the week with an 0-3-3 overall record, having posting a draw in three of their last four matches
• Saint Mary's suffered a 3-1 loss at No. 8 Stanford to kick-off last week then battled Cal Poly to a 2-2 draw on Sunday
• Friday marks the fifth road match in seven outings for the Gaels, who are 0-1-3 away from their home field
• The match against the Hornets is the fifth and final contest in a run of five-straight away from home for Saint Mary's
• Senior midfielder Bastian Toelhoej leads the team with three of the squad's eight goals on the year for six points -- those coming on seven total shot attempts
• Five different players have found the back of the net for the Gaels this season, while four others have added assists
• Sophomore goalkeeper Sam Bentley has played all but 21 minutes in net this year, posting a 1.91 goals against average and 27 saves (.711 save percentage)
SERIES NOTABLES
• Saint Mary's leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 17-9-8
• The Hornets, however, have won two of the last three meetings with the Gaels, sandwiching wins by the scores of 4-1 (2022) and 4-2 (2024) around a 3-2 loss in 2023
• One team has scored three or more goals in four of the last five meetings
• Sacramento State's win in 2022 snapped a four-match losing skid in the series, which followed an eight-match (2-0-6) unbeaten run by the Hornets from 2008-16
• Saint Mary's is 9-3-4 against Sacramento State in Sacramento
• The Hornets haven't defeated the Gaels on their home field since a 1-0 win in 2008, going winless against Saint Mary's at home in the last six meetings (0-3-3)
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 52-89-24 against the current West Coast Conference alignment, having faced all 10 of the league's men's soccer playing members
• Friday's contest is the final meeting with a WCC school this season, posting a 1-2 record in its three previous matches against the league
• The Hornets were 3-0-2 against the West Coast Conference in 2024
DRE DAY
• Senior goalkeeper Andres Rosales had himself a busy week in net for the Hornets, making seven saves in both matches against Pacific and San Francisco
• The seven stops against the Tigers were a career high and the most by a Sacramento State keeper this season, helping the Hornets to their first win of the season
• Both of those performances are tied for the third-most saves by a Big West goalkeeper this year, trailing the nine by CSUN's Dorian Drucks and eight by UC San Diego's Nolan Premack
NUTHIN' BUT A "GUE" THANG
• Freshman Allbranly Gue put home his first collegiate goal to bring the Hornets level against Pacific, scoring a penalty kick following a handball in the box
• He became the second of Sacramento State's newcomer class to find the back of the net this season, joining Nick Strangio, who scored his first goal as a Hornet at Grand Canyon back on Aug. 28 in Phoenix
ZAC(H) ATTACK
• Two of the three Zach's on the Hornet roster combined on the game-winner against Pacific last week as freshman Zach Looney provided the assist to junior Zac Giles for the 2-1 win
• Entering the season with six assists to his name, junior Zac Giles finally opened his account in the win over the Tigers, following up Gue's equalizer with the game-winner 96 seconds later for a 2-1 victory
• Giles, who has put seven of his 12 shot attempts on goal entering the week, became the fifth different Hornet to find the back of the net this year and the second -- along with Gue -- to score his first collegiate goal
• Looney tallied his first collegiate point with the assist -- only the third by a Sacramento State player this year and the first by someone not named Donovan Sessoms
SO... WE MEET AGAIN
• Friday junior transfer Nick Strangio against his former school for the first time since joining the Hornets after the Folsom, Calif., native played the first two seasons of his collegiate career with the Gaels
• Strangio appeared in 14 matches (starting 11 of those) for Saint Mary's from 2023-24, finishing with three goals -- including the winner against conference rival Loyola Marymount as a freshman in 2023
GIMMIE A BREAK
• Following Friday's contest against Saint Mary's, the Hornets will have nearly two weeks (12 days to be exact) to recover before opening league play at home against Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 1
• It is the longest period of time between matches for Sacramento State since 2008 when the Hornets faced Denver at home on Oct. 19, then waited until Halloween to take on Air Force on the road
ON THE SPOT
• With Gue's penalty at San Francisco on Monday night, the Hornets have now converted their last 12 consecutive tries from the spot dating back to a miss against the Dons on the road on Sept. 23, 2018
• Prior to that, Sacramento State made eight straight penalties, extending their streak to 20 of its last 21 dating back to 2015
HORNETS IN THE BIG WEST
• Juniors Donovan Sessoms and Zac Giles are tied for third in the league in shots with 12 apiece and rank tied for ninth with 1.71 shots per match
• Giles ranks second in the conference with seven shots on goal, averaging one per match, while Sessoms is fifth with five and Sean Battistessa is tied for sixth with four
• Sessoms' two assists are tied for second in the league
• Rosales and his team-high 21 saves put him as one of five Big West goalkeepers with 20-or-more saves this year, ranking fifth on that list
• Lucas Bost and his 19 saves are just behind, ranking sixth in the league
• Rosales also ranks third in the league with 5.25 saves per match, while Bost is fifth with 3.80 per game
• As a team, Sacramento State's 42 saves are the most in the Big West
RECYCLED NOTES
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
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)
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 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
