Men’s soccer shut-out in five straight games

You can’t win if you don’t score.

Held scoreless for the fifth straight contest, the Sac State men’s soccer team continues to learn that lesson as they dropped their fifth game in a row.

The Hornets were shut out 1-0 by both Stanford (8-2-2) and California (9-2-2) this weekend in their first two conference games of the season. The team is 2-11 and 0-2 in conference play.

“Our defense has played very well,” head coach Mike Linenberger said. “But we need to be more dangerous in the offensive third of the field. Right now we’re not creating many scoring opportunities.”

Linenberger is happy with the defensive improvement. He said that early in the season, the defense was giving up too many goals and was allowing teams to build leads early in the game.

The improved defense has only allowed three goals in the last three games with Hornet goalkeeper Joey Hills making 23 saves. Unfortunately, the offense has been unable to score and the Hornets lost each game 1-0.

However, Linenberger was not disappointed with the team’s effort this weekend. He said that the team took a step forward from last weekend.

“Both teams we played this weekend were better than us and deserved to win,” Linenberger said. “It’s a tough road trip when you play those schools back to back.”

The Hornets got down early to Cal, when Bears forward Kendall Simmons scored in the 10th minute.

Hills kept the Hornets in the game by collecting a season-high nine saves after giving up the early goal.

The Hornets had a chance to tie with 10 minutes remaining, but the shot ricocheted off the crossbar.

“With a little luck,” Linenberger said, “that shot goes in and we send the game into overtime.”

Although the Hornets could not force overtime against Cal, they did in a defensive battle against Stanford on Sunday.

As regulation time expired, neither team had been able to score, and the sudden death overtime period began.

The overtime period lasted only one minute and one second, when Luke Rust scored for the Cardinal and the victory.

The Hornets’ 1-0 loss was their fourth in the last five games and the team has not scored since their victory 2-1 over San Francisco on Sept.23. Five of the Hornets’ 11 losses this season have been by one goal and four have been by two.

The Hornets have not taken advantage of Hills’ 1.83 goals-against-average for the season.

“We definitely need another win,” Linenberger said. “I think we can take two of these three at home.”

The Hornets host Denver on Friday at 4 p.m. and Air Force on Sunday at 11 a.m. Two hundred free soccer t-shirts and other various giveaways will be passed out during Sunday’s doubleheader with the women’s soccer team.