STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific men's soccer program preps for two home contests against the Big West this week, welcoming Sacramento State to Knoles Field at 7 p.m. on Thursday and CSUN at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

The Tigers (1-3) are returning from their longest road trip of the season at Maryland and seek to continue its momentum at home against the Hornets (0-5-1) and Matadors (2-0-2).

In Pacific's home-opening 2-1 win over Utah Tech, freshman Josephat Yangyuoru recorded a multi-point performance for the first goal and assist of his collegiate career. Yangyuoru leads the Tigers with those three points and is second on the team with six shot attempts (three on target).

The Tigers will look for offense from sophomore Ezekiel Padilla and sophomore Montgomery Carey, who both have been effective with the ball when attacking. Carey scored his first collegiate goal over the Trailblazers and looks to make noise against his former team on Thursday in the Hornets.

Manning the goal all season, junior Mateus Ruiz-Hurst has made 22 saves and owns a 2.20 goals against average across four starts. Ruiz-Hurst picked up his first career win last time out at home and also collected a career-high seven saves in his effort last week at Maryland.

Sacramento State enters the cross-town competition without a win in its 2025 campaign. The Hornets have been shut out in three straight matches in defeats to Santa Clara, Utah Valley and San Jose State. Their lone draw of the season came against Utah Tech in the Hornets' home opener.

A trio of Hornets pace the offense in Donovan Sessoms, Sean Battistessa and Nick Strangio with a goal each. Sessoms' two assists are tied for the Big West lead with UC Santa Barbara's Thomas Noordegraaf.

Sacramento State has called upon Lucas Bost and Andres Rosales to defend the goals. Bost has played the bulk of the time with 19 saves in four starts.

 On the flip side for Sunday, the Matadors make the trip to Stockton having not lost a contest through their first four games of the season. CSUN has early season victories over Oral Roberts and Biola, while most recently earning a scoreless draw at home against Seattle.

While the Matadors have just three goals to their name through four games, their defense has been the reason for their success. CSUN has not allowed a goal with Dorian Drucks owning a perfect save percentage on 23 stops.

Pacific and Sacramento State clash for the 11th time in the series history since 2014. While the Hornets historically have the edge in the series, the Tigers battled to a draw last year in the state capital. In that 2024 contest, senior Luca Baltzer scored the lone Tigers' goal of the match on a penalty kick conversion in the second half. Pacific will look for its first home victory over Sacramento State since a 3-0 victory during the 2016 season at Knoles Field.

The Tigers and Matadors meet again for the fifth time in the series history with the first head-to-head bout coming in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Pacific is 2-1-1 all-time in the match-up, earning a 0-0 draw in Northridge last season. The only time Pacific has hosted CSUN at Knoles Field came in 2022 where the visitors narrowly won by a 1-0 result.

Both contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with scheduled 7 p.m. kick-off times.

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