The Sacramento State men’s soccer team advanced to the semifinal round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation soccer tournament on Thursday afternoon by defeating the No. 4-seed Air Force Academy 6-2.

On Oct. 24, the Hornets lost to the same Falcon team on 2-1. Sac State improves its record to 8-4-7 overall and Air Force will end its season with a mark 7-12-0 overall.

It did not take the Hornets long to score the first goal as junior forward Chris Bettencourt and senior midfielder Ernesto Carranza teamed up to scoretwo goals each. Carranza assisted Bettencourt on two of his goals. Later in the match Bettencourt would return the favor with an assist of his own.

Bettencourt said he was happy about scoring two goals in the game but that it also surprising the team scored so many goals.

“I am excited that I scored but it is also surreal that we as a team scored six goals in one game. I guess we saved them all for the playoffs. We didn’t score this many during the regular season,” Bettencourt said. “It’s good to score goals and I feel excited and just anxious to play tomorrow. I want to keep this ball rolling.”

At thenine-minute mark of the game Carranza found Bettencourt in atangle of players above the goal box. Bettencourt would then take the pass and chip it around Falcon keeper Matt Underwood. The goal gave Sac State a 1-0 lead early.

Air Force would respond by tying the game at 1-1 with a goal their ownfive minutes later as John Melcher would score for the Falcons off the hands of Hornet keeper Cesar Castillo.

Carranza would answer back for the Hornets scoring his first goal of the day off a pass from Gabe Silveira that found its way to the far post of the goal at 17:49 mark of the first half and giving the lead back to Sac State 2-1.

Again Air Force would respond withits final goal of the day at the 20 minute mark when Falcon Zane Dydasco scored off a corner kick that saw the ball hook right into the goal untouched. The goal would tie the game at 2-2.

Carranza said playing with Bettencourt is effortless during a match. but that it doesn’t mean anything if the team can’t get a win in the process.

“Chris is really easy to play with and I understand the way he moves on the field. We had a good week of practice and it showed in the game,” Carranza said.

Carranza went on to say that being able to score his team is great, but that must mean something in the end.

“I am happy to score because I haven’t been scoring many goals this year. But just as long as the team wins,” Carranza said. “I don’t care who scores the goals.”

After that goal by Air Force, the Hornets would score four unanswered goals. Sac State scored their final goal of the first half from a Bettencourt assist to Carranza after a previously failed shot attempt was made. The Hornets led the Falcons 3-2 at halftime.

In the second half, Sac State would pick up where they had left off by scoring two goals in the first 6 minutes of play. The Hornets last goal came at the 84:33 mark where junior midfielder Adam Bettencourt took a long pass from teammate Erick Lariz down the middle of the field where he had a one-on-one match up with Falcon keeper Patrick Gould.

The game would end with the Hornets on top 6-2. The six goals matched the Hornets’ output combined in all 10 conference games this season.

Head coach Michael Linenberger said the team will need to have a comparable outcome in order to top Denver in the semi-finals.

“It is tough to win back-to-back games when our next opponent was able to get a day of rest. That is why it is so important to get the number one or two seed so that you can get the first round bye,” Linenberger said. “Denver will be playing us and we will be a little bit fatigued while they will be nice and fresh. It makes it difficult for us, but we are at home and we like playing at home. So we feel if we can muster up a similar performance like today that we will have a chance to win.”

Sac State advances to the semifinal round where it plays No. 1-seed Denver University today at 2 p.m.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]