Without its top offensive threat, it seemed at the onset that it would be a long day for the Hornet men’s soccer team against San Jose State.

Senior forward Patrick Nelle was out with a concussion and was not available to play, and with an already sputtering offense, it seemed as if the scoring chances would be that much more scarce for Sac State on Friday afternoon at Hornet Field.

Despite Nelle’s absence beat the defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champions with an uncharacteristic offensive outburst, winning the see-saw battle 4-3 in an overtime thriller. Sophomore midfielder Ryan Rhoads’ had the game-winning golden goal.

Rhoads and junior midfielder Ricky Rodriguez contributed a pair of goals each to spark the Hornets, who had to come from behind three times throughout the match just to force overtime.

The Spartans struck first in the 17th minute when Tim McKinney scored off a deflection from a corner kick and snuck the ball into the lower left corner of the goal.

Sac State came right back 13 minutes later to tie the game up.

In the Hornets’ best series of play the entire match, junior midfielder Marco Ramirez advanced the ball downfield where he shot and narrowly missed a goal against San Jose State’s goalkeeper, Douglas Brent. However, Rodriguez was right there to tap the deflection into the open net.

“I felt good all day and was just in the right place at the right time. Granted, I scored a couple times, but this was a team effort,” said Rodriguez, who ended up with two goals and two assists.

Eric Rodriguez sent a cross in to McKinney, who fed Johnny Gonzalez with a soft back-pass, and Gonzalez tapped in the easy shot to beat Sac State goalkeeper Matt McDougall just two minutes later.

The second half of play was no different, as the offensive onslaught continued for both teams.

Faced with a 2-1 deficit, Rhoads brought the Hornets back to tie the game only two minutes into the second half.

Rodriguez stole the ball at midfield and assisted a streaking Rhoads, who deposited the ball into the low far post.

The back-and-forth battle continued deep into the match, as San Jose State came up with the next goal, in the 57th minute, to take a 3-2 lead. Marvin Sorto sent a corner kick into the penalty kick area, and Richard Halvorsen was able to sneak the loose ball past McDougall.

Later, both Rodriguez and Rhoads played pivotal roles to allow the Hornets to come from behind, this time to tie the game at three with only seven minutes left to play.

Rhoads maneuvered his way through the defense into the Spartan’s penalty box, where he was fouled, setting the stage for Rodriguez who was chosen to take the penalty kick.

Brent guessed wrong and Rodriguez sent the ball to the lower right of the goal, tying the score at three.

“After a tough weekend, today went really well,” head coach Michael Linenberger said. “We showed a lot of character in coming back from a goal down three times to tie the score and Rhoads and Rodriguez gave us tremendous games.”

That wasn’t all for the Hornets, though, as the game went into overtime.

Rodriguez once again took the ball down the field, splitting defenders, and found an open Rhoads who was sprinting to the net. Rhoads sent the ball past a diving Brent, giving the Hornets the 4-3 overtime win.

“Rodriguez had a nice run at the goal, gave me the pass and I finished it,” Rhoads said of the game-winner. “It’s nice to get the win against the defending champs and hopefully we’ll get more conference wins like this.”

Sac State is still undefeated at home, going 2-0-1.

After winning the Mountain Pacific just last year, San Jose State has followed it up with just one win thus far.

“We had too many key players in the back all the time and a lot of our players had just horrible games,” Spartans head coach Gary St. Clair said. “It’s terrible to score three goals and lose, and now we’re just a completely different team than last year. It’s good for our opponents, though.”

After a terrible weekend in which the Hornets were beaten by both Air Force and Denver, questions arose regarding the chemistry of the players out on the field.

But even though the Hornets are talented on paper, that talent wasn’t translating into any wins. With a 2-6-1 record, something else had to have been happening to negatively affect the team that was seemingly going to be a powerhouse in the Mountain Pacific this season.

“It’s really easy to say we’re not meshing when we’re out there losing,” Rodriguez said. “It’s easy to blame chemistry when the team is down, but the fact of the matter is that we have to start working together if we want to win some games.”

When confronted with questions about underachieving and team chemistry problems, Linenberger was quick to douse any fires that would become distractions to his team.

“Nobody’s got their own agendas. When you’re losing, the little things become big things,” Linenberger said. “Some guys didn’t come into the season fit and looked as if they hadn’t played at all over the summer. We had a suspended player, injuries to guys, six of our first eight games on the road, so of course we’re going to struggle a bit.”

Sac State’s win over the defending Mountain Pacific champions Friday might have shoveled some dirt over the chemistry issues of the team.

“We had talked about team chemistry and character before the game, and they came out and showed it by winning,” Linenberger said. “We’re getting our injured players back and (Ricky) Rodriguez is now starting to show us how good of a player we all know he is with the great game today.”

The Hornets lost on the road at No. 5 New Mexico on Sunday by a final score of 3-0.