SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State men's soccer team looks to get off the schneid with only one match this week, welcoming local rival Pacific to Hornet Soccer Field on Thursday (Sept. 17) at 4 p.m. The match will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #7
WHAT: Pacific (1-4-2) at Sacramento State (1-5)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
TIME: 4 PM PT
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Pacific | The Big West

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!
• Seniors Zac Giles and Nick Strangio have been named captains for the 2026 season

SCOUTING PACIFIC
• The Tigers enter the week with a 1-4-2 overall record and are winless in their last five dating back to their lone win of the season against Utah Tech (3-2) on Aug. 23
• Pacific is 0-3-2 since then, forging a 2-2 draw at San Jose State and falling at home, 3-1, against CSUN in its two matches last week
• The Tigers are 1-2-1 on the road this season, going winless in their last three
• Sophomore forward Josephat Yangyuoru leads the team in scoring with five points thanks to a pair of goals and an assist
• He is one of three Pacific players to have scored a pair of goals this season along with freshman forward Xavier Cisneros and freshman forward Fateh Singh
• Sophomore goalkeeper Alejandro Caracheo Luna and grad keeper Mateus Ruiz-Hurst have split time in net with the latter playing a team-high 360 minutes and posting 22 saves 
• Caracheo Luna has 17 saves in 270 minutes and owns the team's lone win

SERIES NOTABLES
• Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Pacific, 5-2-4, with all but one of those results coming since the school reinstated the sport for the 2015 season
• Since then the two programs have played one another every season
• The first-ever meeting between the two schools came during the 1992 season with the Hornets posting a 6-0 win
• The Hornets are unbeaten in the last seven meetings (3-0-4) against the Tigers, including a 2-1 victory last season in Stockton
• Sacramento State has not lost in the series since a 2-0 Pacific win in Sacramento back in 2017
• The Hornets are 2-1-3 at home against the Tigers, have split the points in each of the last three matches -- all via a 1-1 score -- at Hornet Soccer Field dating back to that 2017 defeat
• Sacramento State's last win at home against Pacific came in 2015, defeating the Tigers by a 1-0 score

CONFERENCE CALL
• Thursday's match against Pacific will be the Hornets' second against a West Coast Conference school this season after falling to Saint Mary's, 2-1, on Aug. 27
• Sacramento State is a combined 51-81-26 (.405) against the current slate of WCC opponents
• The Hornets' 11 wins over Loyola Marymount are the most against a WCC rival
• Sacramento State is winless (0-2-1) in its last three matches against WCC opponents dating back to its win over Pacific last year, but are 4-3-3 against the league in its last 10 contests

LONG TIME NO SEE
• Thursday's match against Pacific marks the Hornets' first home contest in nearly a month dating back to a contest against nationally ranked Grand Canyon on Aug. 23
• The team's recent four-match run on the road is the longest since Sacramento State opened the 2016 campaign with four straight away from home at Cal State Bakersfield, Pacific, Loyola Marymount, and San Diego

ONE AT A TIME
• This week's match against Pacific marks the second of three straight weeks that will see the Hornets play only one match
• Following Thursday's contest, Sacramento State will have six more days until UC Riverside comes to town on Sept. 23 to close out non-conference play
• The Hornets then open competition in The Big West on Sept. 30 at UC Santa Barbara before hosting Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 3

NINE TIMES? NINE TIMES...
• Senior Zac Giles peppered the San Diego State net with nine shot attempts in the Hornets' contest last Friday night (Sept. 11)
• The total marked a new career high for the Lincoln, Calif., native, surpassing his previous best of seven against Saint Mary's earlier this season
• His nine attempts were also the most by a Hornet player in a single match since Isaac Flores took 12 shots (seven on frame) in a victory over Jessup University in 2011

NOT FOR A LACK OF EFFORT
• Sacramento State's 14 shot attempts against the Aztecs marked the third double-digit total in that category this season, ranking behind only the 15 shots taken at Saint Mary's on Aug. 27

MINUTEMEN
• Aside from starting goalkeeper Lucas Bost who has played every minute of the team's six matches in net, Giles has rarely come off the field in his six starts, playing 497 of a possible 540 (92 percent) minutes this year
• Junior Hiroshi Yang and sophomore Evan Battistessa have also been mainstays on the field, playing 493 and 481 minutes in the field, respectively

NOTABLES
• Junior Sean Battistessa became the first Hornet with multiple goals this year with his score at San Jose State on Sept. 6
• It was his eighth career goal as a Hornet -- the most of any active Sacramento State player entering this week's contest
• Giles has posted at least one point in three of the team's first six matches
• His assist against San Jose State was his third of the season and the ninth of his career
• With two more assists, Giles will move into the school's all-time top 10
• All three of Giles' career goals have been game-winners, putting him two shy of a tie for sixth on the school's all-time list

AMONG THE BIG WEST'S BEST
• Entering the week, no other player in The Big West has attempted more shots than Giles, whose 24 shots -- and 4.00 shots per match -- lead the league by one over UC Santa Barbara's Steiner Bjornsson
• Battistessa's two goals are tied for fifth in the league, just one off the conference lead
• Giles is also tied for second in the conference with his nine shots on goal, trailing only UC Irvine's Gage Lyons, while Battistessa is tied for fourth with six on frame
• Giles remains tied atop The Big West with his three assists along with fourth other players and is tied for ninth with his team-high five points

WE DON'T WANT TO BOST
• Senior goalkeeper Lucas Bost has been busy in net to start 2026, entering the week leading The Big West with 24 total saves -- one of only five keepers in the league in double digits in that category -- and sharing the conference lead with 4.00 saves per match
• He is also fourth with a .727 save percentage
• In the season opener, the Rocklin, Calif., native stopped eight of the nine shots sent his way by UC Davis to preserve a 3-1 victory, facing 21 shots overall in the match en route to his first win in net as a Hornet
• That total was a career-high for Bost, who surpassed his previous high of seven set against Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 4, 2025
• It also marked the most saves for a Hornet keeper since Andres Rosales stopped nine shots against UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 22 of last season