Sunny skies don't help men's soccer blues

Warm sun and a cool breeze graced the CSUS men's soccer field Sunday, but it didn't help them break their losing streak. They were shut out by the Gaels of St. Mary's 0-2 and now stand 0-6-1.

White and blue mingled aggressively on the field, but the blue of St. Mary's reigned over the contest, outrunning and outshooting the Hornets 15 shots to four.

The Gaels attacked from the first blow of the whistle and dominated the first 15 minutes, not letting the ball out of the Hornet backfield.

But the Hornets fought hard, fending off St. Mary's aggressive ball handling and six strong shots on goal to a 0-0 halftime score.

The Hornets' toughest feat was getting into the Gaels' backfield. They had several promising set-ups but defenders Ali-John Utush and Jim Alden kept a tight line across the St. Mary's goal breaking up Hornet efforts.

"We've been making improvements every game and yesterday we took a step backward," said Coach Mike Linenberger. "Yesterday was our worst performance."

He said they were defensively strong but their attacking was weak and their passing was poor and they lacked scoring chances.

St. Mary's forward Jon Gordon broke the tie in the 61st minute with a header over Hornet keeper Ryan Duncan's head.

Duncan worked hard in the Hornet goal, saving six balls from their connection with the net. Unfortunately, another got past his outstretched hands as Nate Kropp rocketed the ball into the left side of the goal unassisted at the 78-minute mark.

Fabiano Rivero still leads the Hornets in points with seven, while midfielders Kevin Mercado and Sean Lockhart and forward Brandon Henley are tied with three.

"We're taking things one game at a time," said Linenberger, "and we're looking forward to the challenge of conference games." The Hornets' opening day in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation begins at home on Friday against UC Berkeley.