Senior Sam Sneed describes his current streak as a bit of good fortune, but for his teammates who have been on the receiving end of the midfielder’s creative passes, luck isn’t exactly what they would call it.

“I saw Sammy beat his man,” forward Patrick Nelle said, after he scored Sacramento State’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Saint Mary’s College on Sunday. “I was making a run back post and I just one-touched it near post. But I have to give all the credit to Sammy, he served a great ball.”

In the 6th minute junior forward Patrick Nelle was able to get on the end of Sneed’s second assist of the season after Sneed had beaten his man badly to create space. It was Nelle’s first goal this season.

“Breaking the ice is a real must,” Nelle said. “Hopefully I will be able to keep the momentum into our next games.”

Sneed created problems throughout the game for the Gaels’ defense along with Nelle and senior forward Pat Powers, who was able to join the team once his junior college transcripts were verified.

“At times we hold back I think,” Linenberger said of his team’s instinct to shoot. “The (players) think they have to beat the defender clean to get the shot off, but you only need a half step.”

Sneed has delivered the initial pass on two of the three Hornet goals thus far. The other goal he netted himself.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Sneed said. “I just keep getting lucky.”

The senior has been the go-to midfielder to spark the attack and has begun working well with freshman Ryan Rhoads and Pedro Lupercia to put the Hornets within scoring position. But even with four points tallied, Sneed isn’t satisfied with the offense’s production yet.

“Our defense is keeping us in games. The offense hasn’t been keeping its own.”That played true on Sunday, when the defense had to regroup and find its shape in order to preserve the one goal lead.

Sac State played the last 32 minutes of the game with only ten players, after defender Juan Carlos Cortez Jr, was given his second yellow card and ejected from the game.

His first yellow card came in the first half after he committed a dangerous tackle. In the second half he was carded for shouting an obscenity while attempting to keep the ball in bounds.

“(Playing down a man) is one of the reasons I am so impressed with this win,” Nelle said. “It’s like a power play for 30 minutes.”

The Gaels, who had ample opportunities to tie the score late in the game, were outshot 11-10 and were denied by goalkeeper Matt McDougall who finished the game with four saves.

“We matched up with (the Hornets) pretty well,” Gael forward Matt Fitzgerald said. “But we just couldn’t put a whole play together. There was a lack of determination.”

Sac State was coming off a tough loss on Thursday before the game with SMC. They had matched up with Pac-10 powerhouse Oregon State and lost 3-0.

“We were really pleased with our play from penalty box to penalty box,” head coach Michael Linenberger said. “(The Beavers) killed us in front of the goal.”Senior Ross Duncan, freshman Robbie Findley and sophomore Matt Johnson were able to put the ball past senior goalkeeper Jeff Gibson and the rest of Sac State’s defenders.

“We have to dig deep,” Nelle said about playing teams from high-profile schools. “Our coaches have a standard, ‘If you can outwork your opponent you have a high probability of winning no matter what the skill level.”