Sacramento State men’s soccer battled against the San Francisco Dons on Thursday, Sept. 12, and showed up defensively to win 1-0 and thrived offensively to defeat the Saint Mary’s Gaels 4-2 on Sunday, Sept. 15.

Thursday: Sac State: 1, San Francisco: 0

The Hornets’ offense propelled them to an early lead and defense combined with great goalkeeping helped seal the win against the Dons.

The Hornets started aggressively, fighting for possession and putting their bodies on the line to keep it.

Seven minutes in, the Hornets’ offense built up passes until junior midfielder Hasan Alsakati found his way to the outside of the 18 for a shot on target, only for it to be deflected off a defender for a scoop up save from Dons’ redshirt senior goalkeeper Eric Waltz.

Redshirt freshman defender Fernando Venegas headed the ball out after the Dons sent a cross through the goal box in the 9th minute.

Venegas was an anchor for the Hornets defense as, deflecting balls out of danger and made smart defensive reads to deny the Dons any chances.

“We played great defensively as a team, not just myself,” Venegas said. ”I held down my position, they had a lot of attacks and shots throughout the game, but we held our own to keep them from equalizing.”

Venegas gained control of the ball after a defensive stop in the 12th minute. He barreled up the pitch to redshirt junior forward Jhared Willcot, who was on the right wing of the Dons half.

Willcot tried to make a pass to the middle of the box but it was headed away.

RELATED: Spring opener ends in stalemate for Sac State

In the 15th minute, Venegas launched the ball up the left side of the field to sophomore forward Donovan Sessoms.

Sessoms took control of the pass despite two defenders competing for it. His teammate took out one of the defenders, leaving him one-on-one with the other. He made a hesitation move to beat his defender and cut just inside the penalty box. He curled the ball into the bottom right side of the goal, just missing the post, to put the Hornets up 1-0.

“I had my teammate running in behind me so I knew he would draw a defender,” Sessoms said. “I made a move to shake my defender and I went to my strong foot and just took my best strike at it. I was just glad to see it go in.”

In the second half the Dons were able to get a lot more shots on goal, but the Hornets shut down their efforts. Sac State had 6 shots to San Francisco’s 23.

The Hornets found their offensive rhythm late in the game, getting two more chances. Despite trailing far behind San Francisco in shots, fouls and corners, Sac State was efficient with their chances and kept defenders on their toes with their passing.

“We finished strong at the end of the game and tried to push back on them with a last spurt of energy,” Sessoms said. “We were focusing on keeping possession and building out plays from the back to create solid opportunities offensively.”

Sunday: Sac State: 4, Saint Mary’s: 2

Offensive firepower and intense defense allowed the Hornets to prevail 4-2 against the Gaels on Sunday.

Saint Mary’s and Sac State battled it out in the early stages of the match as no one side could really create a defining presence.

“I thought the first 10 minutes of the game was really kind of helter-skelter,” Sac State head coach Michael Linenberger said. “I thought neither team was kind of settling the game down and connecting passes and getting into a rhythm.”

Saint Mary’s junior midfielder Bastian Toelhoej was fouled inside the box for a penalty, four minutes into the match. Toelhoej went for the bottom left corner, just missing senior goalkeeper Mac Learned’s hands giving the Gaels a 1-0 lead.

Redshirt freshman defender Gio Ceja navigated his way through three defenders and sent a dangerous ball into the box which was eventually deflected out for a corner.

Ceja was one of the key players for Sac State with two assists in the match.

After allowing an early goal, the Hornets offense clicked and played most of the remaining half on the Gaels side of the field.

“We started connecting passes and I thought we had the majority of the rest of the half and created a couple good chances late in the half to equalize,” Linenberger said.

In the 61st minute of the second half, a long throw-in reached redshirt junior midfielder Stacy Holmes inside the box who fed it to Alsakati. He fired the shot to the upper right side of the goal to score and put the Hornets level 1-1.

“I haven’t been really getting shots off or goals or assists in the past games, so I kind of made that my goal today,” Alsakati said.

Five minutes after the equalizer, Ceja sent a corner kick to the far post and Venegas powered in a header just over the keeper to put Sac State ahead 2-1.

The Hornets kept pushing after their first two goals, building off of their momentum.

In the 68th minute of the match, Sessoms put enough pressure on the defense to get past him and square up with freshman goalkeeper Sam Bentley. He faked a shot, causing the goalkeeper to dive and then looped it around him to up the score 3-1.

Heading into the middle of the second half, the Gaels were fouled on the right side of the field. Gaels junior defender Luke Lawrence directed the ball into the box and Learned reacted preemptively but it found its way past him and into the left corner of the goal for a 3-2 score.

The Gaels were aggressive after their goal, fighting for another chance to score. The Hornets’ defense, led by Ceja and Venegas, controlled all aerial play giving little chance for goals .

In the 82nd minute, Ceja sent another corner spiraling towards the back post where sophomore defender Zac Giles was waiting and headed it towards the front of the goal at Venegas’ feet. Venegas booted it into the top netting to seal the deal for the Hornets, stretching the lead 4-2.

“I feel like it’s a big booster, racking up four goals,” Venegas said. “It’s more than I think we have had all season so far. I think we’re going in the right direction, and now our focus is on the next game.”

Sac State heads to Steven Stadium-Buckshaw field to face off against the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday, Sept 19 at 7:30 p.m. The Hornets have three games to go before Big Sky conference play.