The Sacramento State women’s soccer team dismantled Fresno State’s defense Sunday, cruising to a 5-1 victory at Hornet Field.

The Hornets waited until the 51st minute to score their first goal in Friday’s win over San Jose State. On Sunday, they barely lasted over five minutes.

Sophomore Kim Kemper scored her first goal of the season on a cross from freshman Leah Larot, getting the scoring started for the Hornets in just the sixth minute of the game.

Fresno State opened up the game aggressively and the Hornets capitalized, catching the Bulldog defense off guard and scoring the early goal.

“Our backline was disorganized,” said Fresno State head coach Steve Springthorpe. “You can’t do that against a great attack.”

That goal ended up being the start of a scoring barrage for the Hornets, who made the most of their 11 first half shots by scoring four goals before halftime.

Starting with junior Missy Matzen netting a header off of an assist from senior Katie McCoy in the 26th minute, the Hornets would score three goals in less than nine minutes. Junior Rebeccah Phillips scored off of a Kemper cross in the 30th minute to make it 3-0. Freshman Kylee Blatz followed that in the 34th minute by floating a shot just over the outstretched arms of Fresno State’s goalkeeper, sophomore Jennifer Zenovich, to up the lead to four.

“We didn’t dominate statistically,” said Hornet’s head coach Randy Dedini of the team’s first half performance. “But I felt we created better chances to score.”

“We didn’t bring our defense,” said Bulldog senior Andrea Alires of the team’s struggles.

And although Fresno State faced a steep deficit, Alires said the team remained optimistic. “We definitely thought we could come back,” she said.

The Bulldogs switched goalkeepers at halftime, bringing out freshman Kaity Revel to try to halt the Hornet’s attack. She succeeded in doing so for just over 12 minutes, until the Hornet’s scored their fifth goal of the game when Kemper connected on her second goal of the afternoon. The score was set up by an assist from McCoy, who now has three on the season.

Fresno State did get on the board in the 79th minute, when senior Andrea Salvador scored off of junior Alison Sill’s cross. Although it was meaningless to the game’s final outcome, Springthorpe said he was “encouraged” by the team’s second half performance.

“It was about pride,” said Springthorpe. “We played harder in the second half and equalized (Sac State’s) goal.”

Despite the fact the Hornets allowed the first goal of the season by an opponent, sophomore goalkeeper Mandy Trojan continued her strong play. She was pulled from the game in the 70th minute, before Fresno State’s lone goal, and has yet to allow a score this year.

“She’s doing a tremendous job,” said Dedini of Trojan. “She hasn’t made any mistakes.”

Senior Katie Burton left the game late in the first half and did not return after she broke her knee brace for the third time this season. Burton injured her knee before the season began, and has played with the brace thus far to avoid re-injuring it.

“We won’t let her play without it,” said Dedini.

Sac State improves to 3-0 with the victory, completing an undefeated homestand to start the year. They now will go on the road for their first away game of 2007, facing off against Nevada next Friday at 7 p.m. The Wolf Pack is 0-3 this season.

“I expect us to go on the road and not lose anything,” said Dedini.

Fernando Gallo can be reached at [email protected].