The Sacramento State Hornets were in a tight spot on Saturday when they hosted the Cal Poly Mustangs in their final match of the season. Not only did they need to win in order to make it to the Big West Postseason Tournament, they also needed a fortunate result out of the UC Santa Barbara vs UC Davis match going on at the same time.
While they got the result they wanted out of the UCSB vs Davis match, they were not able to take care of business themselves and lost to Cal Poly 4-2, knocking them out of the postseason.
On a day where the Hornets honored their graduating seniors -Brad Kellogg, Cesar Mendoza, and Isaac Flores - it was the younger players who made the biggest impact. Freshman Brad Bumgarner and Sophomore Cylus Sandoval contributed the goals for the Hornets, with both coming in the dramatic and close fought first half.
The Hornets opened up the scoring with Bumgarner’s goal in the 20th minute, his 7th of the season. The goal came against the run of play, with the Hornets catching Cal Poly on the break and taking full advantage. It was the first time that the Hornets were able to bring Bumgarner into the play, and he made the most of his first opportunity to influence the proceedings. Not only did he finish the play, he also started it. He set into motion the series of events that led to senior Isaac Flores’s fantastic ball in behind the defense.
Cal Poly equalized in the 34th minute, with Chase Minter taking advantage of a poor pass along the back line.
The Mustangs then took the lead in the 44th minute off of a penalty kick, taken by Minter. Hornet goalkeeper James Del Curto guessed the right way but was unable to make the save.
Just one minute later, in a dramatic finish to the second half, the Hornets found an equalizer on a penalty kick of their own. Cylus Sandoval stepped up to the spot and brought the home team level with just over 30 seconds left in the first half.
While the first half was a closely contested and dramatic 45 minutes, the second half was not. Cal Poly largely took control of the game at the beginning of the second 45 and did not let up until the final whistle.
They scored two more goals, the first by Elk Grove native Matt LaGrassa, capitalizing on a poor clearance, and the second a fantastic individual effort by Ishmail Seremba.
“I thought we gave them their first 3 goals,” said Sac State Head Coach Michael Linenberger. “Our problem was bad turnovers in our own third of the field.”
Linenberger said that those turnovers were not a one game issue, but were instead a chronic problem faced by his team this season. “We made those types of turnovers off and on,” he said. “We’ve been working on it and we made some progress but then it raises it’s head again [today].”
However, despite the season ending loss, there are some positives for the Hornets moving forward. Their team was very young this season, with 85% of the team made up of freshman, sophomores, and juniors. Next year the Hornets will have a roster filled with juniors and seniors, including one of the largest senior classes in the program’s history.
“I’ve been telling a lot of people all year long that I thought we were a year away,” Linenberger said about his young group. “I think you win with juniors and seniors and we will be full of juniors and seniors next year.”
One bright spots for next season is midfielder Ivan Ramirez, who will be part of the large senior class. Ramirez contributed a goal and 6 assists to the Hornets this season.
Two defensive bright spots will likely be goalkeeper James Del Curto, who made an impressive number of saves this year, and Paul Geyer, who was an important defensive presence in midfield. Both players will be juniors next year and both will likely be important pieces for the Hornets.
While it may be a small consolation at the moment, with the season-ending loss to Cal Poly still fresh in the mind, the Hornets can look forward to 2016 with a bit of optimism. They’ll have a talented, experienced group of players and will be poised to have possibly their best season yet in the Big West.
