Sac State men’s soccer team’s perfect streak ends

Hornets lose at home to CSU Bakersfield 5-2

Vince Castellana

Sac State sophmore forward Benji Kikanovic attempts to make a goal against CSU Bakersfield on Sunday, Sept. 9, at Hornet Field. The Hornets lost to the Roadrunners 5-2, ending the team’s undefeated record.

Vince Castellana
September 9, 2019

The Sacramento State men’s soccer team (3-1-1) was defeated 5-2 Sunday at home against California State University, Bakersfield, ending the Hornets’ undefeated record.

Roadrunners junior forward Tom Shepherd opened up the scoring in the eighth minute of the game to give Bakersfield a 1-0 lead.  Sac State freshman forward Francisco Magana then scored the equalizer in the 26th minute. The Hornets and Roadrunners went into halftime knotted at one.

In the 69th minute, CSUB sophomore midfielder Carlos Armendariz gave his team the lead, one that they would not relinquish again.

The Roadrunners went on to score three more times in the final ten minutes of the game. Senior midfielder Niklas Korber scored in the 82nd minute on a penalty shot. Armendariz scored again in the 82nd minute and Korber scored his second goal in the 85th minute of the game.  

Freshman forward Titus Washington scored in the 87th minute for the Hornets to trim the deficit to 5-2.

In a very emotional and physical game, the Hornets were given eight yellow cards compared to only three given to the Roadrunners. 

The game changed for the Hornets in the 43rd and 44th minutes when double yellow cards were given to Sac State junior defender Tyler Moss following back to back hard plays, resulting in a red card and ejection. This would cause the Hornets to play at a disadvantage with one less player on the field for the rest of the match.

“We started picking up stupid yellow cards,” said Michael Linenberger, Sac State’s head coach. “We lost our composure, then we took a red card right before the half, and kinda sealed our fate in the second half.”

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In the 43rd minute, Sac State senior midfielder Christian Guzman left with a leg injury.  According to Linenberger, the nature of the injury has not yet been determined but they will know more next week.

Linenberger said the Hornets need to work on capitalizing on chances in front of the goal as there were plenty of chances Sunday to score.

Sac State sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Curtis said there needs to be more communication along the back-line defense in order to assure that the opposing team will not have as many scoring chances as the Roadrunners had.

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The Hornets’ next game is on the road at Loyola Marymount University on Friday night at 7 p.m.