After last season’s heartbreaking loss to rival San Diego State in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs, Sac State came into Friday’s game with redemption in mind, and got it, winning 2-0 at Hornet Field.

In just the seventh minute of the match, the Hornets got right to work, scoring the first goal of the match.

Sophomore defender Utodi Madu got things started for Sac State on the offensive side; Madu sent a free ball toward the center of the box, right to junior midfielder Ricky Rodriguez, who flicked the ball to sophomore midfielder Ryan Rhoads.

Rhoads finished the play off with a shot to the upper right side of the net for the goal, his third of the season, past the outstretched arms of SDSU goalkeeper, Tally Hall.

The Hornets had other chances to add to their 1-0 lead in the first half, but couldn’t capitalize on any of them, as they had some balls bounce off the crossbar or miss an open net by inches.

A one goal lead was all the Hornets needed going into the second half, as the Sac State defense shut down the Aztec offense, completely controlling the tempo of the game; SDSU recorded no shots on goal in the first half.

“I was very happy with our defense today, and Utodi did a tremendous job on both sides of the ball,” head coach Michael Linenberger said. “He had that assist and didn’t once get beat on a single ball; he keyed our shutout.”

Madu knew what it took to beat Sac State’s rival.

“They like to play direct, and we had to fight for each ball,” Madu said. “We controlled it, and that’s how we shut them down.”

Sac State goalkeeper Matt McDougall had to make four saves in the second half to keep the shutout intact.

It was in the 84th minute of the match that junior midfielder Andrew Tamm put the game away.

Senior forward Patrick Nelle floated a perfectly placed volley right to a wide-open Tamm, who deposited the ball into the open net for his second goal of the year, sealing the 2-0 shutout win for the Hornets.

“Nelle’s my best friend on and off the field, and I knew exactly what he’d do because we’ve been playing so long together; he made a run, cut back and gave me a perfect ball,” Tamm said. “This is a huge rivalry and it’s a great feeling to beat them here, especially after a disappointing game last year; it was great to give the fans a win at home.”

SDSU, a streaky team all year, appeared that way again in Friday’s match.

“Mike (Linenberger) has his team organized and they come to play every time out; it was a tale of two halves for us in this game, and for the whole year,” Aztecs head coach Lev Kirshner said. “We were dominated in the first half, but played better in the second half, and unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

The Hornets remain undefeated at home with a 3-0-1 record, with the wins coming against Dominican, defending conference champions San Jose State, and now SDSU.

The two teams have had their issues with one another since the playoffs last year, when the Aztecs beat Sac State on their home field.

“We have some bad blood with (SDSU) and I know they don’t like us very much; they taunted our fans throughout the match and were (jerks) to us after it was over,” sophomore defender Jesse Manton said.

As for Linenberger, he said Friday’s win is one he’ll always remember, but there are still some must-win games that the Hornets will need to focus on in order to make the playoffs.

“Today’s win was one of the most satisfying wins in my coaching career; I know there’s some bad blood there, and now we returned the favor,” Linenberger said. “But a win on Sunday (against UNLV) will put us right back in the thick of things, giving us a 3-3 conference record; our toughest road conference games are behind us and we just got to take care of business at home in order to get back to the playoffs.”

Sac State plays again on Sunday at 1 p.m. against UNLV at Hornet Soccer Field.