SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Senior forward
Zac Giles netted his fifth goal of the season to tie the match at one in the 57th minute, but visiting Gonzaga broke the deadlock and scored twice in the final 20 minutes to hand Sacramento State a 3-1 loss on Wednesday evening at Hornet Soccer Field.
The result put an end to the Hornets' four-match unbeaten streak, dropping them to 3-6-2 overall on the year. The Bulldogs had their three-match winless streak halted, improving to 4-5-2 overall.
Both teams played to a scoreless draw after the first 45 minutes with Sacramento State pressing the issue early. The Hornets finished with nine of the 12 shots attempts in the first half, but were able to put only two of those on frame — both stopped by the Gonzaga keeper.
After the break, Gonzaga was the first to break the season just 73 seconds into the period when Damoni McKenna found himself wide open on the back post and easily put home his second goal of the year for the 1-0 lead.
Sacramento State thought they had the equalizer two-and-a-half minutes later when a ball played to the back left post deflected off the arm of
Sean Battistessa and was bodied into the net by
James Murillo. However, after video review, the officials whistled the Hornets for a handball and erased the goal, leaving it a one-goal lead for Gonzaga.
Giles then came up with the equalizer for real in the 57th minute, scoring for the third time in the last five matches to make it a 1-1 contest. Freshman
Adrian Alvarenga send a long ball across the box to the left where
Eli Reyneveld was there to take it on a bounce and send a diving header back toward the top of the six-yard box.
Timing his run perfectly, Giles put his right foot on the ball, sending it off the Bulldog keeper and into the net.
The score moved Giles into a tie with
Sean Battistessa for the team lead in goals, while Reyneveld tallied his third assist of the season and Alvarenga collected his second helper.
Gonzaga then took the lead for good in the 70th minute as Noah Ervin completed his three-point day by cleaning up a loose ball off a shot by Drew Pedersen for his first of the season and the eventual game winner, and was followed by Pedersen's team-high sixth goal of the year in the 85th minute from the penalty spot to cap the scoring.
Giles had a screamer parried away from the Bulldogs' goalkeeoer in the 73rd minute as the senior attempted a shot from distance and
Hiroshi Yang had another from distance sail just wide in the 78th.
Both teams finished with 16 shots on the day, with the Hornets putting six of their attempts on frame to five for Gonzaga, while the Bulldogs had eight corners — seven of those in the first half — to five for Sacramento State.
The Hornets return to Big West play this weekend, making the trip to Orem, Utah, to take on Utah Valley on Saturday (Oct. 10) at 5 p.m. PT
