The Sacramento State men’s soccer team advanced to the championship match for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this afternoon by defeating the No. 1-seed Denver University 3-1 at Hornet Soccer Field.

With the win, the Hornets advance to Sunday’s championship match against the No. 2-seed CSU Bakersfield. The Roadrunners defeated the No. 4-seed University of New Mexico 2-0 in the early match on today.

With the win over the Pioneers, Sac State improves its overall record to 9-4-7 and Denver falls to 9-6-4 overall to end its season.

The first half of the match was relatively quiet as both teams headed to the locker room in a 0-0 tie.

However, the second half of the match saw the Hornets score the first goal of the match three minutes in. Senior midfielder Fernando Cabadas took a corner kick from the right side of the field and sailed the ball to the left side of goal box. Standing there was junior midfielder Rory O’Day who headed the ball into the goal to make the score 1-0 in favor of Sac State.

O’Day said he is ready for Sunday’s match as the team has the drive on home turf to win.

“I am just happy that we advanced to the championship game on Sunday. We knew we need one goal and scored three to put the game way when they had one. I feel we have a lot of momentum right now, we are feeling pretty confident,” O’Day said. “We have scored nine goals in the last two games. So I’m feeling pretty confident about going on Sunday, with one more home game. Hopefully we will win go the NCAA College Cup.”

With the three goals in the match against Denver, the Hornets have now scored nine goals in two MPSF Tournament games this year after scoring six goals in 10 MPSF regular season games.

The Hornets were not done scoring as junior forward Chris Bettencourt hooked up with teammate Ernesto Carranza in the 71st minute for the second straight game.

Bettencourt received the ball from Carranza to the left of the goal box where he then shot the ball on a hard line to the back post past Pioneer keeper Joe Willis to bring the score 2-0.

Bettencourt said he is moving in the right direction in the season but the work is not over because the team needs to recuperate for Bakersfield.

“It’s about time, we couldn’t do it in the regular season but like coach has said we are peaking at the right time. What matters most is the conference tournament to get into the big tournament,” Bettencourt said. “So I am happy that we are finally coming around and starting to score some goals. We need to get some rest, recover by getting hydrated and getting prepared mentally and physically for Sunday’s game; it will be a big one.”

Denver would get on the board at the 71:54 mark of the second half making the score 2-1 as midfielder Jarod Stigall took a deflected ball from 10 yards off the goals box for an empty-net goal.

The Hornets would respond back with their third and final goal in the 76th minute as Carranza assisted Cabadas with a pass down the middle of field where Cabadas kicked the ball of Pioneer defender to bring the score 3-1.

Head coach Michael Linenberger said the team will need to make the most of their day off on Saturday if they want have a chance to win Sunday against the Roadrunners.

“Honestly we are excited. Great win for us today and Denver is a very good team,” Linenberger said. “Saturday will be a very important day for us to regenerate and get the bodies and minds ready. Three games in four days at a high level is very difficult but I feel that we are playing some of our best soccer of the year right now and we are at home and we will be ready to go.”

The Hornets will have a day off on Saturday before they will meet the No. 2-seeded Bakersfield in the championship match at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Hornet Soccer Field.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]