One of Sacramento State men’s soccer goals this season: stop the opposition on offense.

So far this season, though, the Hornet men team has not quite attained that goal; in losing all three games, the Hornets gave up three goals to Gonzaga, four to Portland No. 19 ranked, and two to Cal, ranked No. 20.

Though on the road for all three losses, the Hornets expected more from themselves, especially with all the veteran leadership they have coming back this year.

Sac State (0-1-3) ended a three game losing streak to began the year in its home opener against Saint Mary’s (1-0-4), tying the Gaels 1-1 in double overtime, with the lone Hornet goal coming on a header from senior forward Patrick Nelle.

“That was our goal, to give up no more than one goal the entire game,” senior defender Utodi Madu who played bullying defense throughout the entirety of the match. “We thought if we did that, then we’d have a real good possibility to win the game.”

Though a tie isn’t what these Hornets were looking for, they recognized it was better than the alternative, a fourth straight loss.

“It’s frustrating to get a tie because we battled for 110 minutes, but it was a big improvement from our last couple of games,” Nelle said.

There are an abundance of positives to be taken out of the Hornet’s home opening tie; they showed a lot of guts and fervor for a team that lost its first three games, making it easy to hang their heads and accept whatever meager season might be in store for them.

But instead they battled.

The first half was played with hard-nosed intensity that was exemplified with the passionate play of Madu and the all-out hustle of midfielder Andrew Tamm. Bodies were spraying all over, several yellow cards were handed out, and coaches were squawking at the refs.

Even with the zealous and fiery play of the Hornets, not a goal could be mustered on the offensive side, as shots on goal by Ryan Rhoads and Juan Carlos Cortez couldn’t find the back of the net. Sac State hadn’t allowed a goal either, thanks to the defense it had been looking for all year.

The second half was a whirlwind of emotion, scoring chances and physical play on both ends.

At the 48:20 mark of the match, Marco Ramirez found his first assist of the season when he fed Nelle a cross and Nelle finished it with a header to the upper-right of the net, giving him his second goal of the season, and giving the small, but frenzied Sac State crowd something to cheer about.

The jubilance didn’t last very long though, as Matt Fitzgerald of Saint Mary’s scored with a deflection on a free kick at 52:47 into the match.

From there, each team had had scoring chances, missing goals by a few feet off or over the crossbar, but neither team could cash in even with the two extra 10-minute overtime periods.

The Hornet’s goal was the first the Gaels have given up this entire year.

“(Sac State) was determined and focused on offense and we left their best header wide open near the net for that goal,” Saint Mary’s head coach Steve Rammel said. “I’m a little disappointed that we couldn’t keep the shutout streak alive.”

The Hornets will next seek their first win on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 2:30 p.m. against Cal Poly at Hornet Soccer Field.