Stadium lights surrounding Harder Stadium shined on the pitch as the Sacramento State men’s soccer team found themselves down two goals to UC Santa Barbara, the No. 2 team in the Big West, on Wednesday despite a new defensive gameplan.
“We played with three center backs and two outside backs. So we played five in the box,” head coach Michael Linenberger said. “We were going to sit a little bit deeper and try to absorb and try to catch them on the counter.”
The Hornets’ best chance to overcome the two-goal deficit came in the 70th minute. Sophomore midfielder Hiroshi Yang stepped to the ball as he awaited the referee’s signal on a corner kick. Yang sent the corner kick to the center of the box, where it was punched out of traffic by Gaucho freshman goalkeeper Owen Beninga.
The errant ball spun in the air toward Hornet sophomore forward Sean Battistessa. Battistessa swung his right foot into the Santa Barbara sky, kicking a looping pass to senior midfielder Amjot Narang who deflected a header to a wide open sophomore forward Eli Reyneveld.
Focusing on the header that hung in the air, Reyneveld felt the pressure from the charging Beninga. Planting his left foot, Reyneveld somersaulted and unleashed a bicycle kick off his right foot that was bound for the heart of the goal, only for Gaucho junior defender Drew Kamienski to be standing on the goal line like a statue.
The shot was blocked and sent out of harm’s way.
“I saw the ball up in the air and everything slowed down and my body took over,” Reyneveld said. “I thought I was scoring for sure.”
Continuing the theme of the season, the Hornets were heavily outshot. They finished the match with four of their 14 shots finding the target, while the Gauchos were able to score twice on their 12 shots on goal.
“We have to get runners in the box. We can’t just have one guy running into the box,” Linenberger said. “You know, we need three or four guys. And we’re not getting that consistently.”
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Senior goalkeeper Andres Rosales faced 26 shots and secured nine saves for the Hornets, even after a monstrous collision left him down on the pitch in the 23rd minute.
“When the opponent is putting a lot of pressure on us, I just try to stay calm and confident,” Rosales said. “My focus is on being strong in those moments and doing whatever I can to help the team.”
Just three minutes after the collision redshirt sophomore defender Fernando Venegas allowed a costly turnover to the Gauchos just outside the box. He softly missed a pass back across the pitch. Gaucho freshman forward Steinar Bjornsson stormed in and sent a shot through the legs of Rosales, which gave UCSB their first lead of the match.
“We made a really bad, silly mistake that led to their first goal,” Linenberger said. “Unfortunately, that’s been the story of our season. We are good for at least one of those a game.”
The Hornets gave up a second goal in the 59th minute, solidifying the grasp the Gauchos had and putting the match out of reach. This marked the eighth time this season where the Hornets have been shutout.
“We need to have to be clinical in the final third and our final passes just have to be better,” Reyneveld said. “There are too many missed passes in important situations, defensively and offensively.”
The Sac State team looks to rebound on Senior Day at Hornet Field on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 3 p.m.
