The Sacramento State women’s soccer team blanked Northern Arizona 2-0 today and moved back into sole possession of first place in the Big Sky Conference standings.

The scoring started early for the Hornets when Katie McCoy knocked in the first goal of the game in the 10th minute. Her 11th score of the year was set up by sophomore Kim Kemper and junior Kara Taylor, who were both credited with assists.

The score would remain 1-0 for the rest of the first half. Sac State kept the Northern Arizona defense busy, firing 11 shots before halftime while limiting the Lumberjacks to only four first-period attempts.

“I thought in the first half we came out flat,” said Lumberjack coach Andre Luciano.

Sac State continued to out-shoot the Lumberjacks by a wide margin in the second half, besting them 10-2 in that category. Despite the lopsided amount of shots, the Hornets were held scoreless for most of the second period until the 88th minute. Freshman Leah Larot gave the Hornets a little breathing room when she beat senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Winkelblech 1-on-1 and scored her third goal of the year.

“The whole second half was pretty stressful,” said junior Rebeccah Phillips. “We were all on the edge of our seats on the bench until she scored.”

The loss drops Northern Arizona to 2-3-1 in conference play and 7-8-5 overall. With only one game remaining, the Lumberjacks will likely need to win on Saturday at Northern Colorado in order to advance to the conference tournament.

“It’s still wide open,” Luciano said. “You have four teams vying for the third and fourth spots.”

Sac State improves to 9-3-5 overall and 3-0-3 in conference. Weber State had been in first place, but the Wildcats tied their game with Montana today and dropped to second in the standings. The Hornets can clinch first place in the conference with a win against Portland State on Friday and would then host the Big Sky Conference tournament Nov. 8-10.

“One of (the team’s) goals was to host,” said Hornet coach Randy Dedini. “Hosting will give us the best chance to win.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Mandy Trojan recorded her seventh shutout of the year and needed only two saves in the victory.

“Katie Burton and the rest of the (defensive) backs did a good job on us,” Luciano said. “Give Sac State credit.”

“Defensively we’ve been really steady,” Dedini said. “We haven’t been giving up a lot of goals.”

The Hornets remain undefeated on their home turf, and are 8-0-1 at Hornet Field this year. Their match against Portland State on Friday will be their last regular season game of the season. The Vikings beat Northern Colorado today to improve to 3-2-1 in conference and 7-8-2 overall. Sac State won last year’s matchup 1-0 in Portland to clinch a berth in the 2006 Big Sky Conference tournament.

Friday’s game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and will follow the men’s match against San Jose State at 1 p.m.

Fernando Gallo can be reached at [email protected]