The Sacramento State men’s soccer team earned its fourth win in a row on Sunday, as it defeated No. 10 UC Irvine 2-0 at Hornet Soccer Field.

With the win, Sac State improves its record to 4-2-0 while the Anteaters fall to 5-1-0 on the season.

The Hornets get their first win of the season over a nationally-ranked opponent . The team lost to No. 11 Duke on Sept. 5.

Coming into the game, Irvine had not given up a goal to any opponent all season. The goals for the Hornets came from the Bettencourt cousins. Forward Chris Bettencourt struck first with his goal at the 4:13 mark of the first half. Adam Bettencourt then followed up early in the second half with a goal of his own at the 51:56 mark in the game.

Chris Bettencourt said being the first to strike against the Anteaters exhilarating.

“It is very exciting. It is always good to be the first one to do things. Especially to score first is always going to pump up your team and get the ball rolling for the rest of game,” Chris Bettencourt said.

The energy of scoring extended all the way to the Hornets’ goalkeeper, as freshman Cesar Castillo recorded his third straight shutout.

Castillo gave most of the credit for the shutout to the Hornet defense.

“It feels great being able to shut teams out at home. A lot of it has to do with the whole defense in general,” Castillo said. “We have been working on defense a lot in practice and all of the defenders have been stepping it up. All that hard work in practice can be seen on the field in shutting out teams.”

With his team on a four-game winning streak, head coach Michael Linenberger said the team has an improved dedication to protecting the ball since the tournament at Duke University, where the Hornets gave up eight goals in two games.

“The team has a renewed commitment to team defending. If you look at our last four games, we have given up one goal with three shutouts in a row,” Linenberger said. “So we have a commitment to defending which I don’t think we had in our preseason games or even in the opening tournament back at Duke.”

The Hornets host the Warriors of William Jessup University on Friday, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]