The Sacramento State men’s soccer team won its second Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in two years and its third since 2001 as it defeated the No. 2-seed CSU Bakersfield 2-1 in overtime today at Hornet Soccer Field.

With the win, the Hornets improve to 10-4-7 overall. It is the first time in school history the Sac State men’s soccer team has won back-to-back championships.

With the loss, the Roadrunners end their season with a record of 11-6-3 overall. The overtime in win for Sac State is its 10th this season as it had to go beyond 90 minutes of regulation play to earn either a tie or a win over their opponents. In the last game of the regular season, the Hornets played San Jose State on the road.

Just barely into the first overtime, Sac State forward Chris Bettencourt knocked in the game winning goal to give the Hornets the much needed three points that earn them the No. 5-seed into the MPSF tournament.

This is 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 didn’t take Sac State very long to score their first goal of the match as the Hornets went up 1-0 just eight minutes into the match. 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 as 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 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 defensemen 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 a head 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. “So 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.”

Freshmen goalkeeper Cesar Castillo held of the attack by the Roadrunners for nearly 45 minutes as he face 10 shots on goal in the first half. However at the 43:38 mark of the first half, a throw in by the Roadrunners was flicked to junior defenseman Chris Widdy who set up teammate and midfielder Richard Menjivar for a shot past Castillo to the far back post of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

The first half would end in a tie as both teams headed back to the locker room to talk over strategy.

Just before the second half started, the wind started to pick up which made it difficult for either goalkeeper to get the ball past midfield.

In the second half, the amount of shots on goal dried up as neither team could get an edge over the other. Game would head into overtime after 90 minutes of play. In the second half there were a total of 11 shots on goal, five less than the previous period.

In overtime, the defense for teams was fierce as neither team wanted to give up territory. It took just over two minutes for the Hornets to break throw against the Roadrunners as sophomore defenseman Matt Linenberger found teammate and defenseman Rory O’Day for the game winning goal.

There was mass chaos in the goal box as the hit the crossbar; it was then headed by Linenberger to O’Day who headed the ball into the goal to win the game.

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 a trip and some time for the feeling of hitting in the game winning goal 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 right now. It may sink in a little while,” 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 because the Hornets had to play so many games in a short amount of time.

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

He also said the team will continue to work on what has got them this far but also they will need to work on going forward with the ball in order to score.

“Our focus as we prepare will be on defending. If you defend well and you give up zero to one goal a game, you have a chance to win every game. Having said this, I feel this weekend we were much better on the attack. We have scored 11 goals in three games now. So yes we still want to defend but we now need to be dangerous on the attack.”

Sac State earns an automatic bid into the NCAA College Cup tournament that begins on Thursday. The first round of play will be held at a site to be determined on Monday.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]