What a difference a year makes. The Sacramento State women’s soccer team comes into its Thursday road tilt with Idaho State with a record of 7-6-3, 3-0-1 conference. They are the last remaining unbeaten team in the Big Sky conference, much to the surprise of everyone. That is, everyone except the team members themselves.

Jenny Lawrence summed it up best when she said, “We were picked to finish last in the conference before the season started.” When the team started off the year with a 1-0 win over archrival UC Davis, it didn’t take much to realize things were going to be different this year.

Last year the team went 3-15 and boasted just a 1-5 conference record. The team scored just 11 goals in 18 games and at one point had an 11-game losing streak, the first 10 of which the Hornets did not score a single goal. So far this season the team has scored 18 goals in 16 games as the offense is slowly starting to click.

On Sunday the Hornets were able to kick their way past the Vikings of Portland State. Sophomore forward Katie McCoy scored both goals in the first half for the Hornets. One came off an assist from forward Kelly Novak, and the second came on a penalty kick. The Vikings scored less than 30 seconds into the second half but the Hornets were able to hold on for the huge conference win.

The Hornets have two remaining conference games, both on the road. Thursday they play against Idaho State and Saturday against Weber State. If Sac State can come out of those two games with the conference lead, the Hornets will host the Big Sky Tournament which will take place at the regular season champion’s house Nov. 3 and 5.