MORAGA, Calif. - On a cold and gloomy Sunday evening in Moraga, the Saint Mary's men's soccer team took on Big West member Sacramento State to finish out their home non-conference schedule. The Gaels would jump out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a converted penalty from captain
Bastian Toelhoej. The game would take a wild turn in the second half though with a combined five goals in the final 45 minutes. Sacramento State would net four goals and shock the Gaels to earn their second win of the season.
FIRST HALF SMC 1-0 SAC
Head coach
Adam Cooper rewarded the group from the second half of Thursday's game against UC Davis and gave several players their first start of the season. Redshirt freshman
Jamal Marseille and senior
Jackson Fyda anchored the center back positions for the Gaels for their first starts of the season and freshmen
Sebastian Barrios and
David Christensen started on the outside to round out the team's back line. After good early pressure, Christensen would make an overlapping run into the right side of the 18-yard box and cut past a defender but get chopped down to draw a penalty kick for the Gaels. Without hesitation, captain
Bastian Toelhoej would step up to convert the penalty for his second goal of the season and fourth of his SMC career.
Sacramento State would find a nice groove in the contest though thanks to Hasan Alsakati, who really orchestrated their attack for the majority of the game. The Hornets would have a flurry of chances in the 24th minute that led to a save from freshman keeper
Sam Bentley and several blocked shots during that span.
In the last two minutes, Bentley would see three shots on frame and make three excellent saves to preserve their lead. He would push a shot from just inside the box to his left and then get down really nicely to cover his front post on another shot attempt inside the box. That save would allow for a follow up by a Hornets forward but Bentley would close quickly to make the one-v-one save with just seconds remaining in the half. Bentley would finish the half with a game high five saves to maintain the Gaels 1-0 advantage.
FINAL SMC 2-4 SAC
Just over 15 minutes into the second half, Alsakati for Sacramento State would continue to wreak havoc for the Gaels defensively and net a beautiful curling shot into the top right corner of the net to tie the game at one apiece. The goal would spark a wild Hornets run as they went on to score two more goals within two minutes of each other to take a 3-1 lead. The Hornets would get their second goal on one of their 11 corner kicks in the match and then take advantage of a costly turnover in the Gaels backline to beat the keeper 1v1. All three goals would occur within an eight minute span to give Saint Mary's work to be done in the final 20 minutes of the match.
The Gaels would respond in a big way with a free kick goal from outside back
Luke Lawrence in the 70th minute to make it a 3-2 game. Lawrence would set up for a dangerous free kick from the right side of the field and whip in a teasing ball inside the six yard box.
Bastian Toelhoej and
Jamal Marseille would both make attempts to head the ball but it would instead bounce between them and over the keeper into the back of the net for Lawrence's first career goal.
Saint Mary's had their best chance to equalize in the 83rd minute with a breakaway opportunity for
Wade Muttitt. Off of a Hornets goal kick, Toelheoj would win the header and the Sacramento State center back would mistime his header attempt and allow the bouncing ball to sail over his head. Muttitt would run onto it and find himself one-on-one with the keeper. He would fire a shot low and right that would be saved and then
Tyler Hardin would follow the rebound with a one time effort just outside of the box that was also saved to preserve the one goal lead.
Saint Mary's would out shoot Sacramento State 12-8 in the second half and finish the match with a season high 18 shots forcing four saves from the Hornets keeper. Just minutes after the two chances from Muttitt and Hardin, Sacramento State would put the game to bed with another corner kick goal to make it 4-2. The ball would get sent to the back post and headed back into the mix where Fernando Venegas would hammer it into the roof of the net. Venegas also had the header goal earlier in the half off a corner kick that made it 2-1 in the 67th minute, finishing the game with a pair of goals and four shots.
Toelhoej was moved into the midfield for the bulk of the match and tallied a team high four shots and a goal in his 90 minutes of action.
Wade Muttitt and
Jude Zamora also recorded three shots apiece while Fyda and Marseille played all 90 minutes for the Gaels at the center back position. Saint Mary's will look to turn the page and develop some momentum in their final non-conference game of the season next week against San Jose State. WCC action will start on the road against San Diego on Saturday, September 28th.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's falls to 1-4-2 overall and will finish their non-conference schedule on the road next week against San Jose State. Kickoff is slated for Friday, September 20th at 6:30 PM. Live stats and ticket links can be found at smcgaels.com and you can stream the game live on WAC International TV.
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