Sacramento State’s women’s soccer team lost to No. 1 Stanford by a score of 7-0 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It is the first time the Hornets have been shut out since Oct. 19 at Montana. The game saw the Hornets playing in very unfamiliar conditions. Accustomed to playing afternoon matches, the Hornets were forced to play in only their third night game of the season. It was also below 60 degrees Fahrenheit at kick-off. Things started out poorly for Sac State as the Cardinals got on the board just 37 seconds into the game. Freshman Christen Press knocked in her seventh goal of the year off of an assist from freshman Allison McCann. “It just took us out of our game,” said Hornets coach Randy Dedini of the early score. “We weren’t very composed.” Some Hornet players also had trouble getting their footing on the wet field early on.

“It took us a little while to get used to it,” said junior midfielder Missy Matzen. “It was pretty difficult to get a good touch on the ball.” The Cardinals would add a second goal less than 10 minutes later, and then benefited from a Hornet own goal in the 27th minute. Stanford went into halftime with the 3-0 advantage, outshooting Sac State 15-4 in the first half. Despite Stanford’s commanding lead, Cardinals coach Paul Ratcliffe said he believed the Hornets had a chance to mount a comeback. “As a coach, you always have to be conservative,” Ratcliffe said. “Sac State is a good team.” Dedini said he told his players to just try and win the second half. “If things worked out to where we were back in the game? we would have been pleased with that,” Dedini said. When the second half began Stanford wasted little time in netting its fourth score. Senior Lizzy George blasted in a goal from ten yards out just 46 seconds into the second period after a Cardinals corner kick. The Hornets would keep the score at 4-0 until the 79th minute, when Stanford went on a scoring barrage. The Cardinals added three more goals in a nine minute span to give them a 7-0 lead. “They took advantage of every one of our mistakes,” Dedini said. “They’re an excellent team.” With the win, Stanford eliminates the Hornets in Sac State’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. The Cardinals move on to face the Golden Bears of UC Berkeley in the second round of the tournament on Sunday. After the game was over, a large group of Hornet fans gathered near the sidelines to show support for their team by waving signs and cheering. “It’s good to have so much support,” said senior Katie Burton. “We’ve never had that. We’ve never had this many people come out to (an away) game.” The Hornets end what Dedini called a “record-breaking season” at 12-4-5. Sac State set a school record for wins in a season, hosted its first Big Sky Conference tournament and won the tournament for the first time in program history. The Hornets also had a record nine players earn all-conference honors. “We broke twenty, thirty records,” Burton said jokingly. “(You) can’t count them all.” “We accomplished all of our goals,” said senior forward Katie McCoy. “Even though the result wasn’t exactly what we had hoped, it was still an amazing experience.” The players also said that the season was a successful one, and Dedini said the returning Hornets gained valuable experience for next season. “When we get this opportunity next year,” Dedini said, “hopefully we have a better result.”

Fernando Gallo can be reached at [email protected]