SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's soccer team snapped its four-match skid in a big way on Sunday afternoon as four Hornets found the back of the net to lift the home side to a 4-2 victory over San Jose State at Hornet Soccer Field.
Sacramento State, which hadn't won since a 1-0 shutout of Oregon back on Aug. 21, improved to 3-4 overall on the year and, in the process, snapped a scoreless drought of nearly 391 minutes with Sunday's outburst.
The four goals were a season high and were the most since the Hornets put home four scores in a 4-1 victory over Idaho State on Oct. 4 of last season. It also marked the second-most goals scored by either school in the history of the season, standing behind only the five goals by SJSU in a 5-0 win back in 1996.
With the defeat, the Spartans fell to 1-6 overall despite closing to within a goal at the break.
It took only five minutes for Sacramento State to break the scoreless deadlock as freshman
Aryana Martinez's corner kick from the left side sailed inside the six-yard box, deflected off an SJSU defender, and dented the net for a 1-0 lead.
In the 27th minute, sophomore
Jaety Mandaquit doubled the advantage with her second goal of the season as a Hornet free kick could not be cleared cleanly. Sophomore
Lexi Schroeder found the ball at her feet on the right side and chipped the ball back into the box, finding the head of Mandaquit at the right post and the sophomore didn't miss, sneaking it inside the post for a 2-0 advantage.
San Jose State clawed a goal back in the 40th minute to halve the Hornets' lead before the break, but the Hornets answered quickly to start the second, needing just four minutes to rebuild the two-goal lead.
Junior
Tea Reyes made a run down the right side, fighting off her defender before lofting a cross to the back post. There, junior
Ellie Farber was waiting unmarked, heading home the cross to the left side for her first of the year and a 3-1 advantage.
Sophomore
Tierra Pickell then made it a 4-1 contest in the 72nd minute, volleying home a rebound off a shot by teammate
Micaela Romo for her first of the season.
San Jose State added a goal in the 75th minute, but could get no closer as
Cynthia Waller made a save and three other attempts were left wanting. Waller finished with a pair of saves in relief of starter
Izzy Palmatier, who made three saves in the first half.
Eight different Hornets finished with shot attempts led by Mandaquit,
Candace Ching, and Schroeder with two apiece. Sacramento State put nine of its 11 shot attempts on net compared to seven of 23 attempts for SJSU.
After playing the last four matches at home, Sacramento State hits the road next week for a pair of matches against its future Big West Conference rivals CSUN (Sept. 11) and UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 14). The match in Northridge is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff, while Sunday's contest against the Gauchos is scheduled for 11 a.m.
