SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento State women's soccer team continues to make the rounds through the Big West Conference, taking on two more league rivals this week. The Hornets open against UC Riverside on Thursday (Aug. 31) at 2 p.m., in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team, before heading to Southern California to take on UC Irvine on Sunday (Sept. 3) at 1 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | UC Riverside | UC Irvine
MATCH #5
WHAT: UC Riverside (0-2-2) at Sacramento State (1-2-1)
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023
TIME: 2 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
MATCH #6
WHAT: Sacramento State (1-2-1) at UC Irvine (2-2)
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023
TIME: 1 p.m.
WHERE: Irvine, Calif.
STADIUM: Anteater Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UCIrvineSports.com
BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Sacramento State athletics by following us on Facebook (/SacramentoStateAthletics), Twitter (@HornetSports), and Instagram (@sacstateathletics). You can also follow the Hornets' women's soccer program on all three platforms: Instagram (@sacstatewsoccer), Twitter (@sacstatewsoccer), and Facebook (/sacstatewsoccer).
WE'LL DO IT LIVE!: Every home match during the 2023 regular season will be streamed live on the ESPN+ subscription platform, with select road contests available on various streaming platforms. Links to watch and for live stats for all matches will be posted, as soon as they are available, on the men's soccer schedule page at HornetSports.com.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!: Sophomore Madelyn Dougherty, junior Isabella Vinsonhaler, and junior Abigail Lopez, were named team captains for the 2023 season.
SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE: The Highlanders enter the week with an 0-2-2 overall record, posting scoreless draws against San Diego and NJIT while falling to California Baptist and UNLV... UC Riverside has scored only once this year as Sarah Mahfoud put home a goal against the Lancers in the season opener... The Highlanders have been outshot, 62-25, for the season thus far... In goal, Cassia Souza has played every minute in four matches, posting a 1.75 goals against average and 23 saves (.767 save percentage).
SERIES NOTES: The series between the Hornets and Highlanders is tied at two wins apiece, with each team winning a match on each other's home field... Thursday marks the first meeting between the two schools since the 2008 season when Sacramento State posted a 1-0 win in Riverside... The Highlanders haven't won in the series since a 3-0 victory in Sacramento in 2005... Three of the four meetings between the two programs have ended in 1-0 results with the 2005 meeting the only outlier... Sacramento State's last win at home was in 2001 by a 1-0 score.
SCOUTING UC IRVINE: The Anteaters enter the week with a 2-2 overall record and will travel to San Jose State on Thursday before welcoming Sacramento State... UCI has posted wins over Saint Mary's and Pacific while falling to a pair of nationally ranked teams in No. 11 Stanford and No. 1 UCLA... Irvine's match against San Jose State will be its first road contest of the year as the Anteaters open the year with five of their first six at home... Junior forward Alyssa Moore leads the team with a goal and pair of assists as five different players have accounted for UC Irvine's scores this year... Goalkeeper Glo Hinojosa has played every minute in net, posting a 1.75 goals against average and 17 saves (.708 save percentage).
SERIES NOTES: Sunday marks only the second meeting between the two programs and the first since the Hornets' inaugural season in 1994... UC Irvine posted a 6-0 win at home in that match, ending a five-match win streak for Sacramento State.
CONFERENCE CALL: Sacramento State has faced 10 of the 11 current members of the Big West Conference and will face five of them in 2023... The Hornets are a combined 25-51-12 against the Big West, but are winless in the last 11 matches (0-6-5) against conference members dating back to a 2-0 win over CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 22, 2019... The only school that the Hornets have not gone head-to-head with is UC San Diego, which officially joined the league prior to the 2020-21 school year.
NET GAIN: Entering the year with just two players on the roster who had scored a goal in the green and gold, the Hornets doubled that total this past weekend as freshman Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia (against Hawai'i) and sophomore Madelyn Doughtery (against Hawai'i Pacific) opened their accounts with their first career collegiate goals. Dougherty's was even more important as the sophomore's strike was the game-winner in a 1-0 win over the Sharks.
HELP ME, HELP YOU: Finishing with a goal in two seasons at San Diego, junior Ariana Scholten came up with her first collegiate assist on Spinney-Kuahuia's goal against Hawai'i -- the first by a Hornet this season and the first since Ariana Nino assisted on Danna Restom's game-winner at Idaho on Oct. 16 of last season.
BUSY IZZY: Freshman goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was busy in the team's opener at Hawai'i, making a career-high nine stops while facing a barrage of 23 attempts from the Rainbow Wahine. Two days later, it was a little more subdued against Hawai'i Pacific, as Palmatier was forced to make only one first-half save -- while the defense held the Sharks to no shots in the second half -- en route to her first career victory and first shutout.
WE WERE (ON) FRAMED: Of the Hornets' 12 shot attempts against Hawai'i Pacific, they put 75 percent of those on frame -- the best single-match percentage by a Sacramento State offense since the Hornets put eight of their 10 attempts on goal against Nevada on Sept. 5, 2021.
TAKING HER BEST SHOT: Dougherty is the only Hornet to attempt a shot in every match this season, leading the team with nine attempts -- which ranks fourth in the league entering the week -- and putting seven of those on goal. Her four shots (all on frame) against Hawai'i Pacific tied her career high set against Northern Colorado on Sept. 25 of last year.
KEEPING THE SHEETS CLEAN: Sacramento State's 1-0 shutout against Hawai'i Pacific on Aug. 26 was the team's first clean sheet since blanking Weber State at home on Oct. 7 of last season by the same score and the Hornets' first against a non-conference opponent since a 3-0 win over Nevada on Sept. 5, 2021.
LOPEZ WITH THE FIRST: The first goal of the season came off the foot of junior captain Abigail Lopez, whose penalty in the first half against CSU Bakersfield following a red card staked the Hornets to the early lead. It was her third career conversion from the spot after going 2-for-2 as a sophomore in 2022, and give her sole possession of second place on the school's career list according to available records behind only Aubrey Goodwill and her seven penalty makes.
NOSE FOR THE GOAL: Lopez, a two-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree, has been one of the program's top scorers in her two-plus seasons with the Hornets, entering the week with eight career goals while assisting on four others over 37 matches. She enters the week only five goals shy of breaking into the top 10 on the school's all-time list (Tisha Smith and Adaurie Dayak are tied for ninth with 13).
MIGHTY MIA: Senior goalkeeper Mia Shalit returns for her third season between the pipes for the Hornets after leading the Big Sky in overall saves (94) and finishing second in saves per game (5.22). Shalit, who spent time in the summer of 2022 with the Peruvian Women's National Team, finished the year ranked eighth on the school's single-season list with her 94 stops, while her 1,640 minutes stand seventh on the single-season chart. Nearly half of those 94 saves came in the span of four matches when she posted double-digit stops against No. 21 Stanford (15), No. 22 Washington (11), Northern Arizona (11), and Saint Mary's (11).
MILESTONES AHEAD: Shalit enters the 2023 campaign looking to move up a number of school all-time lists:
• Ranks 8th in career saves with 151 (needs 21 to match Kristy Milanese for 7th)
• Ranks T-9th in career shutouts with five (needs 3 to tie Amy Seely and Jenny Lawrence for 7th)
• Ranks 10th in career minutes with 2,582 (needs 246 to match Destiny Butcher for 9th)
THE HORNETS, QUICKLY: Qualifying for the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the third straight season, Sacramento State returns 13 letter winners and eight starters for the 2023 campaign, while welcoming back four redshirts and adding 14 new faces -- including a pair of Division I transfers.
THAT'S FRESH: The 12 true freshmen listed on this year's roster are the most under the direction of Head Coach Randy Dedini and are the most for the program since the 2002 squad featured 14 Hornets entering their first year of collegiate soccer.
CHIEFS OF STAFF: Head Coach Randy Dedini enters his 17th season at the helm of the Hornet program and is joined once again by volunteer assistant Danielle Davis and director of operations Joey Lum. New to the staff in 2023 is assistant coach Chris Malenab, who has spent the last eight years coaching in the USL ranks -- including three years with the Sacramento Republic FC from 2014-17 -- and with the 2022 WPSL National Champion California Storm, as well as the Grenada and Guam national teams.
STATE OF THE HORNETS: Five different states will be represented on the Sacramento State roster in 2023 but, aside from California, no other state will have as much of an impact as the "Aloha State." The Hornets feature six Hawai'ians (Ali Fuamatu-Ma'afala, Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia, Shaunee Egloria, Dalen Lau, Madelyn Dougherty, and Payton Inabata) on this year's roster along with one each from Washington (Sierra Sonko), Colorado (Ella Wilcox), and Idaho (Isabella Vinsonhaler). Sonko is the first Hornet from the "Evergreen State" since Caitlin Prothe wrapped up her stellar career in 2018, while Wilcox is the first Colorado native since Courtney Gorham finished her four years in 2005.
PRESEASON PICKS: Sacramento State enters the 2023 campaign picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference, receiving 34 points to finish just one back of Eastern Washington in fifth and six points ahead of both Portland State and Northern Colorado. Reigning champion Northern Arizona received four first-place votes and 54 points overall to edge Idaho (three votes, 49 points), while Weber State (one vote, 45 points) and Montana (40 points) rounded out the top four.
