Jack Rhead‘s goal in the 84th minute sent CSUN past Sacramento State 2-1 in Big West men’s soccer action Wednesday afternoon at Hornet Soccer Field.

The Matadors broke the seal in the fifth minute when Marley Edwards scored. Edwards floated his shot to upper right corner from top right of 18.

The Hornets’ first threat came in the 20th minute when Austin Wehner’s blast was saved by Cooper Wenzel out of bounds. Sacramento State was awarded a corner kick. The CSUN defense defended the set piece successfully as the Matadors regained possession.

Sacramento State threatened with four corner kicks over the 24th and 25th minutes. The Matadors were able to turn away the Hornets each time. CSUN knocked on the door in the 34th minute. Off a free kick, David Diaz‘s attempt was blocked near the Hornets’ goal. On the ensuing Sacramento State possession, Christo Cervantes’ shot off a free kick was saved by Wenzel.

The next CSUN possession saw the Matadors earn a corner kick which resulted in a Bryan Bustamante attempt that was saved by the Hornets’ Mac Learned. A Diaz rush with just over two minutes remaining in the first half resulted in a shot that went wide left. The Matadors were aggressive in the first half as CSUN was whistled for offsides six times.

The opening 20 minutes of the second half saw only one shot (by CSUN’s Oscar Cardenas) taken. The Hornets were awarded a free kick in the 67th which resulted in Michael Gonzalez’s effort being saved by Wenzel.

Wehner tied the score in the 77th minute. Genaro Alfaro sent a crossing pass into the box where Wehner put the ball past Wenzel in the top right of the Matador net. The next time down, Diaz took a touch, created spaced and took a shot that was saved by Learned out of bounds. The CSUN corner was taken long and went over the end line for a Hornets’ goal kick.

With 6:19 to go, a straight red card was issued to Sacramento State’s Ali Sasankhah for a tackle. Four seconds later, AJ Johnson took the free kick off the red and sent the ball towards the goal where Rhead flicked it into the bottom left of the Hornets’ goal.

At 86:31, Wenzel saved a Wehner attempt. In the 89th minute, the Hornets earned a corner kick. With Sacramento State playing short, the Matadors forced the ball off a Hornets’ defender, resulting in a goal kick.

THE STATS
CSUN outshot Sacramento State (6-4-2, 1-2 Big West) 11-8 with both squads putting five shots on goal…Wenzel made four saves while Learned had three…the Hornets posted six corner kicks, compared to five for the Matadors…CSUN was whistled for a total of eight offsides, Sacramento State was called for one offsides…the teams combined for 33 fouls (20-CSUN, Hornets-13) with six cards being issued (four yellow for CSUN, one yellow and one red for Sacramento State).

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH TERRY DAVILA
“We played well and were able to come away with some tough road points.”

NOTES
Wednesday was the first time since 2018 in which the Matadors faced the Hornets in Sacramento…CSUN’s victory was the first for the Matadors in Sacramento since Oct. 10, 2015, when CSUN defeated Sacramento State 2-1…dating back to the Division II days, CSUN and the Hornets played for the 26th time with the Matadors leading the all-time series 14-9-2.

UP NEXT
The Matadors (5-3-3, 2-1 Big West) host UC Davis (2-6-3, 1-1-1 Big West) on Saturday. Coverage on ESPN+ begins at 7 p.m. with Ghizal Hasan on the call.