SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's soccer team gets its first taste of outside competition with a pair of home exhibitions this week, welcoming perennial power and two-time NCAA National Champion Santa Clara to Hornet Soccer Field on Wednesday (Aug. 7) and hosting Fresno State on Saturday (Aug. 10). Kick off is scheduled for Noon against the Broncos, with an 11 a.m. scheduled start with the battle with the Bulldogs.
THIS WEEK…
EXHIBITION MATCH #1
WHAT: Santa Clara (14-5-2, 6-2 WCC in 2023) at Sacramento State (4-9-5, 2-3-3 Big Sky in 2023)
WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024
TIME: Noon
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
EXHIBITION MATCH #2
WHAT: Fresno State (5-9-6, 4-4-3 Mountain West in 2023) at Sacramento State (4-9-5, 2-3-3 Big Sky in 2023)
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024
TIME: 11 a.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: None
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
THE HORNETS, QUICKLY
• Fans of the Hornets will recognize most of the 2024 roster as Sacramento State returns 17 players, 10 starters, and six redshirts off of last season's squad that finished 4-9-5 overall and 2-3-3 in league play
• Also among the 30-woman roster for this season are seven new faces, made up of three transfers and four true freshmen
• By the numbers, the Hornets return every one of their goals scored last season and all but four of their 211 shot attempts
• Senior midfielder Abigail Lopez, a three-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree, is the team's leading returning scorer after netting four goals and attempting 41 shots
• Lopez, who has led the team in scoring in two of her three seasons, needs only two more scores to break into the school's all-time top 10 and needs 10 more total points to get on to that top-10 list
• Sophom*ore goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier, an All-Big Sky honorable mention choice in 2023, returns as the incumbent in net after posting a 1.60 goals against average and 73 saves in 15 matches (1,293 minutes), shutting out four opponents
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
• Santa Clara is coming off a 2023 campaign that saw it finish 14-5-2 overall and 6-2 in the West Coast Conference
• The Broncos reached the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament, dispatching Arizona State by a 3-0 score in the opening round before calling to No. 5 Penn State, 2-0, in the next
• Santa Clara enters the 2024 season ranked No. 22 in the nation according to the preseason United Soccer Coaches poll
• Senior midfielder Sally Menti is the team's leading returning scorer after finding the back of the net four times and assisting on nine other scores for 17 points — good for second on the team
•Senior midfielder Colby Barnettt also finished with double-digit points a season ago, finishing the year third on the team with 12 points on three goals and six assists
• Graduate student Marlee Nicolos is the incumbent in net for the Broncos after starting 17 matches (1,479 minutes) and posting a 0.61 goals against average, stopping 29 shots and shutting out eight opponents
• Head Coach Jerry Smith is in his 38th year at the helm of the Santa Clara program, winning a pair of NCAA championships (2001 and 2020) and is one of only four Division I head coaches to win more than 500 matches in his career, ranking second on that all-time list
SERIES NOTES
• Despite being separated by only a two-hour drive, the Sacramento State and Santa Clara women's soccer programs have never officially met on the field
• The two programs did face one another in an exhibition back in 2013 with the No. 16-ranked Broncos emerging victorious
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
•Fresno State is coming off a 2023 season that had the Bulldogs finish 5-9-6 overall and 4-4-3 in the Mountain West Conference standings, falling to fourth-seeded Colorado State in the opening round of the league tournament
• Senior forward Kaelyn Miller (eight goals, one assist) and junior forward Clara Wilson (four goals, six assists) return to the field after finishing 1-2 on the team in scoring last year
• There will be a new face in net for Fresno State in 2024 as juniors Ashley Conley (who redshirted last season) and transfer Shivani Battaglia are joined by freshman Kennedy Arntzen
• Head Coach Brian Zwaschka is in his 16th season at the helm of the program, leading the Bulldogs to a 2010 Western Athletic Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010
SERIES NOTES
• Fresno State leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by an 11-7-3 count, with the teams last officially meetings in 2021 (a 1-1 draw in Fresno)
• The Hornets are unbeaten in their last three official meetings with the Bulldogs, posting a 2-1 overtime win in 2017 at home, while batting to a pair of double-overtime draws in 2018 (2-2) and 2021
• Four of the last six official meetings have ended in overtime
• Sacramento State is 5-3-1 at home in the all-time series against Fresno State
• Neither team has scored more than two goals in a match in each of the last 10 meetings against one another — something that has happened in all but four of the 21 all-time meetings between the two programs
SISTER, SISTER
•Sacramento State sophom*ore defender Dalen Lau will go head-to-head with her sister, Jordan, who is a senior defender for Fresno State
• Fittingly, both Dalen and Jordan wear the number five
COMING SOON
• Following Saturday's exhibition against Fresno State, Sacramento State officially opens the 2024 campaign on the road, traveling across the Causeway to take on UC Davis on Thursday (Aug. 15) at 5 p.m.
