The Sacramento State men?s soccer team started its first winning streak of the season with two consecutive wins against University of New Mexico and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 3-2 and 4-1, respectively.

Since both of these games were part of conference play, the Hornets have now moved up to second place within the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation behind United States Air Force Academy. Sunday?s game against the UNLV Rebels had an exciting first half.

In the 31st minute of play, Las Vegas? Jason Melendez used a cross from a free kick to put the Rebels up 1-0. Four minutes later, the Hornets were awarded a penalty kick, which senior Sean Luigs put in the net to tie up the score.

Luigs continued his hot streak by putting another past Rebel goalkeeper Scott Winstead, just three minutes after his penalty kick putting the Hornets up 2-1. Luigs now leads the team in goals with seven, a collegiate season-high for him, and is now tied for fourth place for the Sac State season goals record.

Freshman Patrick Nelle knew where to be as he assisted not only Luigs? second goal, but placed one for Sac State sophomore David Fraser in the 43rd minute to put the Hornets up 3-1 at the half. Fraser, who is behind Luigs in goals with five for the season, was also accounted for the assist on Luigs? second goal.

With a 3-1 lead going into the second half, the Hornets continued to put the pressure on. The score remained until the end of the second period when Sac State?s Joel Rodriguez put in his third goal of the season in the 85th minute to make the final score 4-1 in favor of the Hornets.

Sac State improved its record to 4-6-4 overall and 3-1-2 in conference play. Friday?s 3-2 victory over New Mexico had a different effect on the Hornets.

“We felt we played poorly, but we won,” Sac State head coach Michael Linenberger said. “Once in a while we?ll take it.”

In the 33rd minute, the Lobos? Itzik Rapaport had a breakaway past Hornets Jason Gantt and Andy Hashimoto to give New Mexico the lead, 1-0. Sac State kept fighting as Nelle put away his first collegiate goal on a header by junior Justin Ancheta.

“I?ve been waiting for it,” Nelle said afterward.

The Lobos came back to take the lead once again in the 62nd minute as Junro Narita also had a breakaway and put the ball past Hornet goalkeeper Chris Haustein.

Communication began to break down between the Sac State men as words were exchanged and accidents occurred. Junior Hjalti Kristjansson and Haustein collided while both trying to save a shot, leaving Kristjansson on the ground. After being taken off the field, he was able to return for the last few minutes of the game.

“I called for it, but he was in the heat of the moment,” Haustein said. “We didn?t read each other.”

“Frustration set in today. We made poor decisions with the ball,” Linenberger said. “We really haven?t had much problem with that this year.”

Five minutes after New Mexico once again claimed the lead, Sac State caught a break as Fraser was taken down, giving Luigs an opportunity to tie up the game with a penalty kick, which he did. Fraser was able to exact revenge in the 78th minute by scoring the fifth goal of the game, giving the Hornets the lead for the first time in the game and a final score of 3-2.

Sac State now looks on to a rescheduled game at Santa Clara on Tuesday, then University of California, Berkeley, on Friday and California State University, San Diego, on Sunday.