SACRAMENTO -- Seniors Austin Wehner and Cody Sundquist teamed up to get the Hornets on the board early, but visiting San Jose State opened the floodgates with three unanswered goals to close out the first half en route to a 4-1 victory over host Sacramento State on Friday evening at Hornet Soccer Field.
The defeat was the fourth straight for the Hornets, who closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 3-6 overall record. Sacramento State opens Big West Conference play with two home matches next week, welcoming CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday (Sept. 27) and UC San Diego on Saturday (Sept. 30).
Meanwhile, the Spartans improved to 3-2-3 overall on the season with the victory, snapping a three-match losing streak against the Hornets in the process.
It was Sacramento State on the board first in the 11th minute as the senior tandem of Wehner and Sundquist combined to put the home side up a goal early. Sundquist split a pair of San Jose State defenders with his pass onto the feet of a streaking Wehner, who took a touch and placed a right-footed shot to the right side of net while jumping over a charging Spartan keeper for the 1-0 lead.
The goal was Wehner's third of the season, giving him 10 total points when you include his team-high four assists, while Sundquist tallied his third assist and fifth point of the year. The two had combined to score the team's second goal against Saint Mary's back on Sept. 14, while Wehner has now posted a point in three of the team's last four contests.
From that point on it was all San Jose State. The Spartans answered with the equalizer in the 24th minute and added goals in the 31st and 41st minutes for a 3-1 lead at the break. SJSU capped the scoring with another in the 55th minute for the final tally.
San Jose State ended the night with a 12-11 advantage in shots, while each keeper made a pair of saves.
Bryan Gutierrez,
Jhared Willcot, and
Michael Gonzalez each finished with two shots each to lead the Hornets.
