The last time that Sacramento State’s men’s soccer team went five games without a loss was in 2001; on Wednesday, the 2005 Hornets were trying to match that mark against Menlo College.

The Hornets, fresh from winning the LIU Soccer Championship in Brooklyn, N.Y., showed little fatigue in a dominating 4-0 performance against the overmatched Oaks.

The Hornets, who improved to 4-1-1, got on the scoreboard early when freshman Jack Jones served the ball up to senior Ricky Rodriguez, who banged a strike off of both posts before scoring the opening goal in the ninth minute of the match.

Over the next 37 minutes, the Hornets kept the heat with hopes of burying their opponents. It nearly happened later in the first half when Lucio Orellana, sophomore, crossed the ball to junior defender Utodi Madu, who struck the ball into the net. The goal was called back when the linesman made an offside call.

Despite only leading 1-0 at the half, head coach Mike Linenberger replaced senior goalie Matt McDougall and inserted many of his reserves because he felt the team had seized control of the match.

“We didn’t want the team to get too fatigued,” Linenberger said.

The team played in New York over the weekend and is playing at Cal Poly on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before finally getting a break.

In the second half, the Hornets began to pour it on.

Junior Ryan Rhoads, who scored his first goal Sunday against Long Island, put on a show in the 54th minute.

First, Rhoads took his defender to the inside and nailed a bending shot across the goalmouth and into the net. Then, still in the 54th minute, Rhoads headed a pass from sophomore Brandon Baggett past the goalie for his second goal in 35 seconds.

“Confidence is huge in soccer,” Rhoads said. “I had confidence in my team making plays and they moved the ball well to get me good shots.”

Oscar Sandoval added a final goal for the Hornets in the 64th minute.

Defensively, the Hornets could do no wrong.

The team didn’t allow a shot on goal the entire afternoon, only feeling a scoring threat two or three times.

“We knew they wouldn’t get many scoring chances,” Linenberger said. “We just wanted to make sure that they didn’t capitalize on what opportunities they got.”

It was the Hornets second clean sheet of the season.

NOTES: During halftime, fans were able to go onto the field and shoot on Jenny Lawrence, goalie for the women’s squad, for a $1 minimum donation to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The fundraiser collected around $200 on Wednesday. Lawrence was in top form as members of the State Hornet Staff found out. Several editors from the Hornet took shots to no avail.

On Friday, fans will be able to try again against another member of the women’s soccer team.