Sac State women’s soccer team defeats Southern Utah 3-0

Hornets extend unbeaten streak to 12 games

Anthony Shorter

Sac State junior forward Kylee Kim-Bustillos attempts to steal the ball against Northern Arizona Friday, Oct. 4 at Hornet Field. Kim-Bustillos scored one goal in the Hornets 3-0 win against Southern Utah Sunday.

Nigel Rayyan
October 6, 2019

The Sacramento State women’s soccer team defeated Southern Utah University Sunday 3-0 in a dominant performance.

Sac State (7-1-5, 1-0-3 Big Sky Conference) came into Sunday’s game with three consecutive ties after playing a 1-1 draw with Northern Arizona University Friday.

RELATED: Sac State women’s soccer team draws against Northern Arizona

The Hornets came back after a scoreless first half to secure three goals. Sac State had strong offensive pressure throughout the game that they were able to impose on Southern Utah, who spent most of the game playing defense. The Hornets outshot the Thunderbirds 18-3.

The first goal came in the 55th minute when junior forward Kylee Kim-Bustillos cut through a group of defenders, noticed a corner of the goal was open and went for it to get her team on the scoreboard.

“We had more urgency in the second half,” Kim-Bustillos said. “We were playing kinda lackadaisical at first but our coach just talked to us and told us we needed to be more urgent so we came out a lot harder.”

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The junior forward said the Hornets were confident going into Sunday’s game and that being tied at halftime was a bit of a surprise to the team.

“We were definitely expecting a win,” Kim-Bustillos said. “When we weren’t winning in the first half we started freaking out a bit.”

Six minutes later, the Hornets scored again on a goal by Camila Fonseca in the 61st minute. The sophomore midfielder found herself unguarded during a corner kick and took advantage of the opportunity.

The final goal came right before the game was over in the 87th minute.  Sophomore forward Erika Sosa put herself in a position to capitalize on an indirect kick.

“I was like, ‘that girl’s gonna miss the header,’” Sosa said. “I was there to place it right in.”

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Head coach Randy Dedini was proud yet unsurprised by the victory. 

“We’re a hard team to beat,” he said. “We’ve got an excellent goalkeeper, a really strong defense and we play really good team defense. We don’t allow many goals and we feel confident we’re gonna get some in the end.” 

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With the win Sunday, the Hornets’ unbeaten streak extends to 12, with 7 wins and 5 ties. The previous best streak was 9 consecutive games in 2007.

Dedini said that in his opinion, the 2007 team was the best Sac State has ever had. He expressed reservations about whether or not the current team has accomplished enough yet to surpass the 2007 team as best in Sac State history, but he said the broken record is a very good sign.

“I don’t know if we can say that until we win a championship,” Dedini said.  “But certainly we have the makings of one of the best teams we’ve ever had. We played in the second half like our pants were on fire and that’s how we want to play all the time.”

Kim-Bustillos said she is happy with her team’s performance and confident in their ability to continue succeeding.

“Our players are really talented and I think we have one of the most talented teams in the Big Sky,” she said. “We’re not really worried about anyone.”

The Hornets will attempt to keep their unbeaten streak alive in the next game on the road at Portland State University next Sunday at 1 p.m.