SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With the non-conference portion of its schedule behind them, the Sacramento State men's soccer team opens Big West Conference play with a pair of matches this week.

The Hornets begin with an 11 a.m. kick-off on Wednesday (Oct. 2) at Cal State Bakersfield in the Roadrunners' annual "Education Day" match, before coming home to host UC Riverside on Saturday (Oct. 5) at 4 p.m.

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #10
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-4-2, 0-0 Big West) at Cal State Bakersfield (3-2-2, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024
TIME: 11 a.m.
WHERE: Bakersfield, Calif.
STADIUM: CSUB Main Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoRunners.com

MATCH #11
WHAT: UC Riverside (2-4-1, 0-0 Big West) at Sacramento State (3-4-2, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | Cal State Bakersfield | UC Riverside

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• Every home match during the 2024 regular season will be streamed live on the ESPN+ subscription platform, with select road contests available on various streaming platforms
• Links to watch and for live stats for all matches will be posted, when available, on the men's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com

SCOUTING CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
• The Roadrunners enter the week with a 3-2-2 overall record and are unbeaten in their last two following a draw at Gonzaga (1-1) and a win at Pacific (2-1)
• Wednesday marks only the third home match of the year for Bakersfield, which is 1-1 on its home turf
• Six of the team's seven matches have either ended in a draw or decided by a single goal
• Senior forward Connor Mautino leads the team with three goals and six points, standing as one of five Roadrunners who have scored this year
• Junior goalkeeper Zenden Hart has played all but 27 minutes in net this year, posting a 1.34 goals against average and 21 saves (.700 save percentage)

SERIES NOTABLES
• Cal State Bakersfield leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 11-7-4
• The Hornets are unbeaten in the last two meetings, posting a 1-0 win on the road in 2022 and a 1-1 draw at home in 2023
• The Roadrunners' last win in the series came in 2021, handing Sacramento State a 2-0 loss at home
• One of the two teams have scored at least three goals in a match 10 times in the 22 meetings
• The Hornets are 3-6-1 on the road against Cal State Bakersfield, having won their last two trips to Southern California: 5-4 in overtime in 2018 and 1-0 in 2022

SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE
• The Highlanders enter the week with a 2-4-1 overall record and hosts CSUN on Wednesday before traveling to Sacramento
• Having played only two home matches as well this year, UCR is 2-2-1 on the road after defeating Air Force (2-0) and drawing at California Baptist (0-0)
• The team's seven goals scored entering the week are the fewest in the Big West, just behind Cal State Bakersfield's nine scores
• Senior forwards Luka Lukic and Noah Lopez have accounted for six of the team's seven goals scored, netting three apiece
• Senior goalkeeper Carlos Gonzalez has played every minute in net, posting a 1.86 goals against average and 26 saves (.667 save percentage)

SERIES NOTABLES
• UC Riverside leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 9-7-3, and is 7-5 against the Hornets in Big West play since 2012
• The two programs have split each of the last six head-to-head meetings -- four of those played in Riverside -- dating back to 2017
• Sacramento State is 4-4-1 against the Highlanders at home, winning two of the last three
• The two schools ended in a draw in three of the first five all-time meetings, but haven't done so since a 2-2 tie in 2007 in Riverside
• One team has finished with two goals in each of the last eight meetings dating back to 2016

FOR OPENERS... BIG WEST STYLE
• Sacramento State is 5-4-1 all-time in Big West Conference openers since joining the league as an affiliate member in men's soccer in 2012
• The Hornets are unbeaten in their last three league openers, posting a 1-1 draw with Cal Poly in 2021, a 1-0 win over Cal State Bakersfield in 2022, and a 1-1 draw against the Roadrunners last year
• Wednesday marks the third consecutive season that Sacramento State will open Big West play against Cal State Bakersfield
• The three openers against the Roadrunners will be the most against any one league member for the Hornets, breaking a tie with UC Irvine, CSUN, and UC Santa Barbara
• Sacramento State has opened Big West play against every current league member except for UC San Diego and UC Davis

BATTISTESSA MAKES IT THREE STRAIGHT FOR THE HORNETS
• Sean Battistessa became the third Sacramento State freshman in as many weeks to be named the Big West Freshman of the Week on Sept. 30
• It is the first time since the conference began honoring a freshman of the week in 2021 that a school has had three-straight winners of the award and the fifth time that a school has had at least three freshman of the week award winners in a single season
• Battistessa joined Fernando Venegas (Sept. 16) and Ethan Kelly (Sept. 23) as Hornet winners this year after scoring the game-tying goal at Portland last week for his first career score
• Battistessa is the fifth Sacramento State player to win freshman of the week honors in the history of the program along with Justin Faison, Edgar Guerra, Venegas, and Kelly

WE'RE GOING STREAKING!
• A draw at Portland to close out non-conference play last week helped the Hornets remain unbeaten (3-0-2) over their last five matches
• It is the longest such streak for Sacramento State since it went unbeaten in seven straight (5-0-2) from Aug. 28 to Sept. 18, 2022

WE DON'T WANT TO BOST
• Sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Bost made his Hornet debut in the second half at Portland last week, finishing with an assist and four saves -- including a stop on a Pilot penalty in the 82nd minute that preserved the 1-1 draw
• Bost's assist was only the sixth by a Sacramento State goalkeeper according to available records dating back to 1987 and the first since Edgar Guerra did so against Cal Poly on Oct. 19, 2022
• Other Hornet keepers to tally a point in their careers: Jeff Fluharty (1995), Matt Stein (1996), Ryan Kenny (2006), and Cesar Castillo (2010)

SQUAD GOALS
• Sacramento State has scored at least one goal in each of its last five matches
• It is the longest such streak since the Hornets found the back of the net in six straight matches from Aug. 27 to Sept. 14 of last season
• During its most recent run, Sacramento State has outscored the opposition by an 9-5 count with seven different Hornets accounting for the nine scores
• Aside from Hasan Alsakati's penalty against Santa Clara, only one of the remaining nine Sacramento State scores have been unassisted (Donovan Sessoms' score at Saint Mary's)

"POINT"-ING THE WAY
• Battistessa's and Bost's first career points at Portland made then the seventh and eighth different Hornets to collect their first career goal or assist in 2024: Stacy Holmes (first career goal), Ethan Kelly (first career goal), Montgomery Carey (first career assist), Fernando Venegas (first career goal and assist), Vincent Padilla (first career assist), and Gio Ceja (first career assist)
• Meanwhile a ninth -- sophomore Donovan Sessoms -- has recorded his first career points as a Hornet this year after his first career goal came during his first year at UNLV in 2023

STOP! HALT! ARRET! ALTO! FERMA!
• You get the picture. One of the nation's top shot stoppers (more on that later...) has picked up right where he left off in 2023, as senior goalkeeper Mac Learned's 43 saves, 4.78 saves per match, and .782 save percentage are tops in the Big West as of Sept. 30
• Entering the week, Learned ranks No. 6 in the NCAA in total saves behind leader Jamie Barry of Niagara (58) and stands No. 19 in the nation in saves per game
• The nine saves in the shutout of San Francisco on Sept. 12 were a season high and the second-highest total of his career, trailing on his 10 stops against the Dons on the road last year
• They are also tied for the most by a Big West keeper this season, matching UC San Diego's Nolan Premack, who had nine stops against Duke on Aug. 25
• Learned's seven saves at San Diego State on Sept. 6 are fourth on that same list
• After last week, Learned's 163 career saves rank ninth on the school's all-time top 10 list, passing Andy Hegelein's total of 160 stops in 1986, and trailing Ryan Curtis' (2018-19, 2021) total of 182 for eighth place
• Learned's total this year are nearly halfway to his 88 saves in 2023, which were good for ninth on the program's single-season list

WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
• Sessoms has been in the right place at the right time after both of his goals against San Francisco (Sept. 12) and Saint Mary's (Sept. 15) went for game-winning scores
• The sophomore scored just 15 minutes in against the Dons -- a goal that stood up in a 1-0 victory -- while his score in the 69th minute against the Gaels proved to be the decisive score in a 4-2 victory
• It marks the 17th straight season that the Hornets have had at least one player with multiple game-winners and the most since Alex Bettencourt and Nate Nugen had three such scores during the 2016 campaign
• Sessoms' two game winners enter the week tied for 15th in the NCAA behind Charleston's Leonardo D'Ambrosio, who has four winners

THE ROAD MOST TRAVELED
• The seven home matches in 2024 are the fewest for the Hornets since the 2018 squad played the same number on its home turf
• Three of those home matches will come prior to the start of Big West play — the third time in the last four seasons that Sacramento State will play so few non-conference contests at home
• In fact, the Hornets will play back-to-back home matches only once all year, hosting CSUN and UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 16 and 19