The Sacramento State men’s soccer team won its second Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship in two years and will advance to the 2010 NCAA College Cup after the 2-1 win against No. 2 CSU Bakersfield in overtime on Sunday.

With the win, the Hornets improve to 10-4-7 overall and will advance to their second College Cup appearance. It is also the first time in school history that the Sac State men’s soccer team has won back-to-back MPSF championships.

This is also the second time in MPSF history that a low seed in the tournament has won the conference championship. In 2001, the Hornets were the No. 1 seed in the tournament when they lost to the No. 8-seeded New Mexico University in the first round of play.

It did not take Sac State very long to score their first goal of the match as the Hornets went up 1-0 just eight minutes into this year’s championship game. Chris Bettencourt took a long and high inbound throw from sophomore forward Max Alvarez. Bettencourt timed the throw as the ball sailed to the middle of the goal box and he jumped over Roadrunners’ defenders to head the ball into the back of the net.

The goal was Bettencourt’s 10th of the season and his fourth of the tournament. At the end of the match, he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Also named to the all-tournament team were senior midfielder Ernesto Carranza and junior defenseman Rory O’Day.

Bettencourt said the assist from Alvarez was big for the team as his throw made it possible for the team to get ahead early.

“His throw in was huge; it put us up 1-0. We found that he had a long throw and we use him for occasions just like that,” Bettencourt said. “They weren’t marking me in the goal box. So he threw it and I got my head on it and was able to catch the goalie off guard.”

Freshman goalie Cesar Castillo held of the attack by the Roadrunners for nearly 45 minutes as he faced 10 shots on goal in the first half.

The first half would end in a tie. In the second half, the amount of shots on goal dried up as neither team could get an edge over the other. The game then headed into overtime after 90 minutes of play.

In overtime, it took just over three minutes for the Hornets to score against the Roadrunners as sophomore defenseman Matt Linenberger found teammate and defenseman Rory O’Day for the game-winning goal.

Linenberger said the ball floated in the air like it was on a cloud after it hit the goal post as he then got it to O’Day.

“When Chris hit the ball across the field to me, I tried to head it in but it went off the crossbar and was coming down almost in slow motion. As it was coming down, I saw that no one marked up Rory, so I got it to him and he hit in to win,” Linenberger said.

O’Day said he may need some time for the feeling of hitting in the game-winning goal in sudden death overtime that gave his team their second conference title in two years.

“I don’t know what I am feeling right now. I want to go to Disneyland. It is an indescribable feeling,” O’Day said. “We are going to have some fun and rock out because we go dancing on Thursday. I just can’t describe it, we are ready to go.”

Head coach Michael Linenberger said winning the way the team did was difficult.

“I am really happy for our team right now. It has been a fantastic weekend for us,” Linenberger said. “Even though we are home, it is tough to win three games in four days against quality opposition.”

The team will be hosting Santa Clara University in the first round of the NCAA College Cup on Thursday Nov. 18 at 2 p.m.

“We’re excited to host,” Linenberger said. “Last year was our first time into the tournament and we’re excited to be there. I think when we are at our best, we can play with anyone in the country. We hope we’re peaking at the right time.”

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]