Gauchos roll past Hornets, losing streak reaches four
Image: Gauchos roll past Hornets, losing streak reaches four:Sacramento State striker Patrick Nelle fights past UC Santa Barbara defenders in Sunday’s game at Hornet Field. The Hornets lost the match 3-0.Photo by Giselle CamayaState Hornet:
October 1, 2003
On paper this past weekend’s opponents for the Sacramento State men’s soccer team were the toughest to date. After the action, there was a resounding confirmation.
Sac State’s winless streak has grown to six games, including a current four-game losing streak, after losses to UC Santa Barbara and San Jose State this weekend.
The Hornets lost to the 10th-ranked Gauchos 3-0 at Hornet Soccer Field Sunday afternoon and dropped the first game of their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation campaign, 6-1, at Spartan Stadium in San Jose Friday night.
The losses dropped the Hornets’ record to 2-6-1 on the season and 0-1-0 in the MPSF.
Though not exactly pleased with the results, head coach Mike Linenberger felt that his players never quit.
“The scores don’t look good, but we actually felt we made a big step forward this weekend,” Linenberger said. “In San Jose, even when it was 4-1 and 5-1, we never quit battling and fighting, and the same goes for (Sunday).”
As the Hornets took the field at home for the first time in three weeks Sunday, they seemed ready for the intense offensive barrage UCSB brought in the first half.
The Gauchos kept the pressure on the Hornets’ defense with numerous chances on each offensive possession, while Sac State could only muster a few attempts.
UCSB (7-0-1) finally got on the board in the 37th minute when Memo Arzate placed the ball passed sophomore goalkeeper Matt McDougall. Arzate added an assist in the 46th minute when his shot was deflected to forward Neil Jones, who then put the deflection away to make it 2-0.
Jones would score again in the 71st minute sliding a back-heel pass past senior goalkeeper Jeff Gibson.
Gibson was in for McDougall who had seven saves before leaving the game with a broken finger midway through the second half.
In San Jose the Hornets struck first when senior midfielder Sam Sneed pounced on a rebound and scored 16 minutes into the match.
The lead was short-lived as the Spartans struck back in the 23rd minute when Randy Poggio converted a penalty-kick to tie the match 1-1. In the 30th minute, SJSU (4-1-2) took the lead for good on a goal by Johnny Gonzalez.
At the half the score was only 2-1, but the worst was yet to come.
Poggio netted his second goal of the match in the 54th minute and the Spartans added three more goals to turn a once close match into a 6-1 drubbing.
The Hornets will try to break their winless streak this as they travel to play the University of San Francisco (4-6-0) on Friday and the fifth-ranked Santa Clara University Broncos (7-2-2) on Sunday. Both games start at 7 p.m.
