Sacramento State women’s soccer came out even in their last two games, protecting their undefeated home field record against Montana but remaining winless on the road against Northern Arizona.

The Hornets’ overall record stands at 4-6-6 on the season and 2-2-3 in conference play heading into their final game of the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 27.

Friday: Sac State: 0, Montana: 0

Sac State hosted the, at the time top-seeded, Montana Grizzlies, for their home season finale on Friday, Oct. 18.

The Grizzlies outshot the Hornets 22-8, but many were off target and the Grizzlies ended with only three more shots on goal than the Hornets.

The Hornets’ defense locked the Grizzlies down and most of their shots did not have a chance at the goal.

“We’ve been working on our communication, like shifting and picking up which players,” sophomore midfielder Ellie Farber said. “We can always be better in attacking third, reading who we are as teammates and seeing what type of balls they want and something like that to be more creative.”

Although neither team was able to get the ball in the goal all game, both teams were very physical, fighting for position on the ball with bodies falling all over the field. The referees let them play it out more often than not, with only 11 total fouls called between both teams.

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was diving left and right to stop low shots on the goal, ultimately recording four of her five total saves in the second half.

“We knew what we had to do against the formation that they’re gonna have,” Palmatier said. “We kept talking about sticking together and making sure that we communicated as we slid across the field.”

The Hornets’ defense stood strong in the second half preventing the Grizzlies from getting opportunities to score.

“Second half, I felt like we were on our heels a little bit with the wind at our back, but I thought we defended really well,” Sac State head coach Randy Dedini said. “They didn’t really get too many direct shots inside of our 18, we did a good job clearing out. Even though they were pinning us back a little bit, they weren’t really creating a lot of good opportunities.”

The Hornets ended with a perfect home record on the season for the third time in 17 years with four wins and four draws.

“With the way that we played, I would have obviously liked a better result. But pleased with the way that we played, going undefeated, just a credit to the team for how well we played at home,” Dedini said.

RELATED: Battle between Hornets and Bears ends in draw

Sunday: Sac State: 1, Northern Arizona: 1

Northern Arizona wasted no time getting on the board, scoring four minutes into the game. An instep kick from junior midfielder Avery Ott, which bounced on a player and landed in a crush of bodies, led to a goal from senior forward Haylee Phoenix who landed it in the middle of the net.

Seven minutes later, junior midfielder Madelyn Dougherty faked out a defender going right, cut back left and booted the ball between two defenders just outside the box and into the right side of the net off an assist by sophomore forward Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia.

“I took a touch off my right foot and faked a shot with my right. I saw two players kind of blocking my shot,” Dougherty said. “I just cut it back to my left and shot it really quick, did a little pullback move, shot with my left foot to the far right post.”

In the 22nd minute, Palmatier made a penalty kick save after a foul call on Dougherty, batting the ball out with a dive to her left.

“I think our defense handled NAU’s offense really well. We were ready for their different formations and communicated them effectively,” Palmatier said. “We just needed to be cleaner on defending our set pieces.”

NAU outshot Sac State, 18-15, however Sac State had double the shots on goal, 10-5. There were also many fouls by both teams totaling 27.

In the second half, the Hornets had more opportunities to score, but NAU’s defense prevailed to keep the score knotted up at one apiece.

“This team has been a pretty strong team for the last couple of years. They’ve lost a couple of their goal scorers, so they haven’t been scoring a lot of goals,” Dedini said. “Both teams are about the same experience and physical teams, so it was kind of what we expected, and we knew it would come down to finishing the game.”

Sac State’s next game will be against Portland State in Portland, Oregon for their final game of the season on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 12 p.m.