Sacramento State men’s soccer team is on a mission for a three-peat this season, but it has to face tough opposition along the way.

Fresh off four consecutive road games, the Hornets return to the nest to prepare for two straight home conference games. In their four-game road trip they earned a record of 2-1-1.

Their most recent road win was last weekend at San Jose State beating the Spartans 1-0 in overtime thanks to senior starting forward Chris Bettencourt.

“It was a huge game, first game of the conference,” Bettencourt said. “We were looking for either a tie or a win.”

Having scored the winning goal, Bettencourt said the feeling was priceless.

“Knowing it’s the golden goal (first team that scores wins) always feels good,” Bettencourt said. “It is always good to be able to quiet the crowd.”

Some of the tough matchups coming up for the Hornets are against two schools ranked top 25 in the country. For their first home conference game, Sac State is hosting the No. 25 ranked school, California State University, Bakersfield.  The matchup between these two schools has turned into a rivalry as of late. The Hornets defeated the Roadrunners in overtime 2-1 in the final of last year’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. CSU Bakersfield has not been able to defeat Sac State in the last three seasons in which the two teams have met five times. Three wins for Sac State and two draws. They will have to visit the Roadrunners later on in the season.

Head coach Michael Linenberger said they are aware of the threat the Roadrunners bring.

“We are looking forward to our next game. We always take it one game at a time,” coach Linenberger said. “Bakersfield is very good and will pose a challenge for us.”

Bettencourt said the game is going to be entertaining where both teams like to keep the ball.

“It is going to be a battle with two great teams,” Bettencourt said. “ We have to play hard on defense, come out and play our game.”

Another great matchup will take place at the end of October when the Hornets visit the University of New Mexico. The Lobos are ranked No. 7 in the country. In the past three seasons, Sac State and New Mexico have played five times with each school winning twice and drawing once.  One of the victories over the Lobos was in the 2009 MPSF tournament final where the Hornets won 5-4 in a penalty shootout after both teams failed to win in regulation and double-overtime.

Bettencourt said he always looks forward to these types of games.

“New Mexico is going to be a very good game. It is always tough to play them away,” Bettencourt said. “Every away game is tough.”

Coming off a victory against the Spartans, freshman defender Jamal Angell said the team is playing as a cohesive unit.

“We have a positive attitude right now in the way we are playing,” Angell said.

The Hornets have more home games than away games left in the season. Coach Linenberger said that all conference games should be taken seriously.

“We hope playing five games at home compared to four games on the road gives us a slight advantage, but all conference games are difficult whether at home or away,” coach Linenberger said.

In order for Sac State to be a contender for the conference title coach Linenberger said they need to improve on some aspects of their game, especially defensively where they have had a few lapses in past games like against Oregon State.

“We feel we have given up too many goals on defensive set-pieces,” coach Linenberger said. “That is an area we must improve on in order to make a good run at a third conference championship.”

Over the weekend, Sac State played two games at Hornet field. On Friday it lost to CSU Bakersfield 3-0 and beat Seattle University 2-1.  The Hornets’ overall record stands at 6-4-1, but with a conference record of 2-1-0.

The Hornets’ schedule will also include the University of Denver and the University of Las Vegas. The Hornets have a record of 2-1-2 against UNLV.

Their next road trip is this weekend when they again face both CSU Bakersfield and Seattle in a span of two days.

Katie McMillin can be reached at [email protected].