Sacramento State (3-3-0) defeated Canisius (1-5-0) on Sunday 2-0, after goals by junior forward Presley Strother and senior forward Kristen Bridges.

“Today, we all worked together more instead of individual efforts,” Strother said. “Together we were able to make goals happen and created opportunities.”

After an assist by freshman midfielder Chelsea Arnold, Strother was able to get her first goal of the 2014 season past the Golden Griffins junior goalkeeper Kailee DeFranks as it came in the 4th minute of play.

“We did a good job overall, we connected the ball well and we were able to get a lot of shots off,” Strother said. “We were able to beat them down the line, we played quicker than them so as a team we did really well.”

Senior goalkeeper Kimberly Mata had three saves against the Golden Griffins, posting her second shutout of the season.

“She did incredible today, there is no doubt that we always have confidence in her when the ball is in the back,” Bridges said. “We just always know that she will get the job done no matter what.”

Hornets sophomore midfielder Lydia Bowman’s pass from midfield gave way to Bridges as she was able to score her first goal of the season in the 34th minute.

“It was an awesome group effort today from the defense, to the midfield line, to the forward line,” Bridges said. “We connected very well all week in practice and we have been working on shooting and taking shots on goal, and it really came out in the game today.”

There were back-to-back corner kick opportunities late in the game for the the Hornets who nearly scored two goals on both attempts. DeFranks was very busy throughout the contest. There were times where she made some great diving saves, despite all the traffic in front of her.

Sac State coach Randy Dedini was pleased that his team got the victory today.

“It was a nice 2-0 win, it feels good to win and I thought we played pretty well for the most part and it would have been nice to put away a few more goals,” Dedini said. “This is something to build on and we still need to get better at a few things.”

At the 35 minute mark, Hornet junior defenseman McKenna Swanson collided with a Golden Griffin player but was able to walk off the field without assistance as both players were looking to get possession of the ball.

Sac State women’s soccer plays at Fresno Pacific at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.