The Sacramento State women’s soccer team earned its third win in Big Sky Conference play Sunday, defeating the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., 2-0.

The win for Sac State gives the team sole possession of second place in the Big Sky with nine points, as the Hornets improve their record to 6-7-1 overall and 3-1 in Big Sky play. The win by Sac State gave the Bears their first conference loss of the season, as their record now stands at 9-4-2 overall and 2-1-1 in the Big Sky.

The Hornets’ two goals came from senior captain Leah Larot late in the match as neither side could find space around the goalkeepers for 80-plus minutes.

Larot finally was able to get to the Bears’ goalkeeper, as defensive back Erin Tarantino passed the ball to the streaking Larot who found the lower left corner of the Northern Colorado net with two minutes to play.

The Hornet forward was not finished as Larot found the goal with 33 seconds left in the match. Larot broke through the middle of the field as she had a one-on-one match up with Bears’ goalkeeper Kirstin Salminen. As Salminen moved to intercept, Larot quickly dribbled the ball out of reach and tapped it in for an empty-net goal.

The two goals for Larot give her a team-best nine goals for the season.

Hornet goalkeeper Savannah Ambercrombie earned the shutout for Sac State, which was her sixth shutout of the season. With the shutout, Ambercrombie lowers her goals against average to 1.17 with 46 total saves.

Sac State will next travel to Idaho State University on Thursday for a 1 p.m. start against the Bengals. The Hornets return home to welcome the Wildcats of Weber State University on Sunday. The match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]