SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new era for the Sacramento State women's soccer program officially kicks off this week as first-year Head Coach
Tim Strader leads the Hornets into the first matches of the 2026 campaign.
The schedule opens at home on Thursday (Aug. 13) as Sacramento State welcomes Pacific for a 5 p.m. kick-off, then heads across the Causeway to battle UC Davis on Sunday (Aug. 16) in a rare 8 p.m. kick-off under the lights.
Thursday's opener against the Tigers will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform, while the match against the Aggies will be shown on the Mountain West Plus Network (subscription required).
THIS WEEK…
MATCH #1
WHAT: Pacific (4-9-6, 1-6-4 WCC in 2025) at Sacramento State (6-11-1, 2-5-1 Big Sky in 2025)
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 12, 2026
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
TIME: 5 PM
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
MATCH #2
WHAT: Sacramento State (6-11-1, 2-5-1 Big Sky in 2025) at UC Davis (3-12-4, 1-8-1 Big West in 2025)
WHEN: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026
WHERE: Davis, Calif.
TIME: 8 PM
STADIUM: Aggie Soccer Field
WATCH: Mountain West Plus ($)
LIVE STATS: UCDavisAggies.com
MATCH NOTES: Sacramento State |
Pacific |
UC Davis |
Big West
TRADING THE SKY FOR THE WEST
• The 2026 season will be the Hornets' first season in The Big West, officially becoming a full-fledged member of the league on July 1
• Sacramento State left the only conference that it has ever known, competing as a member of the Big Sky Conference from 1996-2025 -- just two years after Sacramento State began sponsoring the sport at the Division I level in 1994
• All of the university's varsity sports -- other than football (MAC), gymnastics (MPSF), indoor track and field (MPSF) and rowing (WCC) -- now compete under the Big West banner
• Previously, the Hornets had competed as affiliate members of the Big West in men's soccer (2012-25), beach volleyball (2016-25), baseball (1997-2002), and softball (1997-2002)
THE HORNETS' NEW BENCH BOSS
• Head Coach
Tim Strader enters his first year at the helm of the Sacramento State women's program after having spent 2025 at Texas A&M and the previous seven years at one of the Hornets' newest conference rivals in California Baptist
• Strader is the fifth head coach in program history, taking over for Randy Dedini
• Strader also spent four years as the head coach at Indiana Wesleyan (NCCAA) from 2014-17 and was an assistant at another Big West school, CSUN, from 2012-13
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!
• Seniors
Ellie Farber and
Lexi Schroeder have been named team captains for the 2026 season
• Farber is now a three-time team captain after earning the honor for the first time as a sophomore in 2024
• This is Schroeder's first year as a captain
SCOUTING PACIFIC
• The Tigers finished 4-9-6 overall and 1-6-4 in West Coast Conference play in 2025, going winless in their final six, including three draws
• With Thursday's match in Sacramento, Pacific starts a season on the road for for the first time since 2022
• Head Coach Jeff Freeman is in his second year at the helm of the Tigers' program in 2026
• Pacific lost three of its top four scorers from a season ago as senior midfielder Whitney Garn is the team's leading returning scorer, finishing 2025 with a pair of goals and five points
• In goal, sophomore Lis Van Herwijnen is the incumbent in net after starting 14 matches and posting a 1.86 goals against average and stopping 62 shots last year to go with four shutouts
SERIES NOTABLES
• Pacific leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 17-5-5 count
• The Hornets snapped a four-match winless streak (0-3-1) against the Tigers with a 3-0 win in Stockton last season -- its first victory in the series since 2019
• Sacramento State is 2-7-4 against Pacific at home, having lost the last two head-to-head meetings in Sacramento dating back to a 2-0 triumph in that aforementioned 2019 match
• One of the schools has scored three-or-more goals in each of the last four meetings
• Last year's 3-0 win was the largest margin of victory by the Hornets in the history of the series and the most goals they have scored against the Tigers in a single match in the series
SCOUTING UC DAVIS
• The Aggies are coming off a 2025 campaign that saw them finish 3-12-4 overall and 1-8-1 in their final season in the Big West Conference
• After spending the last 19 years as members of The Big West, UC Davis enters its first year as members of the Mountain West Conference
• Sunday's match will be the Aggies' regular season home opener after they face San Francisco in an exhibition on Aug. 5 and take on Fresno State on Aug. 12
• Head Coach Kat Mertz is in her second season at the helm of the Aggies' program in 2026
• UC Davis lost three of its top five scorers from a year ago with the duo of junior midfielder Sydney Bushman and junior forward Lisette Gregoris returning to lead the way after scoring two goals apiece in 2025
• In net, senior goalkeeper Cat Pieper started all 19 matches in 2025, posting a 1.18 goals against average and 71 saves to go with four shutouts
SERIES NOTABLES
• UC Davis leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 17-5-4
• The Aggies are unbeaten in the last seven meetings (6-0-1) with the Hornets dating back to a 1-0 Sacramento State victory in 2017
• The Hornets are 2-8-1 all time on UC Davis' home field, losing the last three trips across the Causeway dating back to a 1-0 triumph in that aforementioned 2017 meeting
• Sacramento State has not scored a goal in the last three meetings with the Aggies, outscored 7-0 in that stretch (a streak of 340:01 minutes)
• The Hornets' last goal against UC Davis came on a penalty in the 20th minute of a 1-1 draw on Sept. 1, 2022, at home
HORNETS AT A GLANCE
• Sacramento State is coming off a 2025 season that saw the Hornets finish 6-11-1 overall and 2-5-1 in its final season in the Big Sky Conference
• The six victories -- and four non-conference wins -- were the most since the 2019 squad finished 11-2-6 overall and won six matches outside of Big Sky play
• The Hornets return only six letterwinners and one redshirt from last season's squad, with five of those six letterwinners seeing significant time in the starting 11 a season ago
• Bolstering that group is a rather sizable class of 19 newcomers that features seven transfers from four-year programs, three transfers from the junior college ranks, and nine true freshmen for 2026
• Sacramento State returns its leading scorer from a year ago in senior
Lexi Schroeder, who finished with three goals and a pair of assists for eight points
• All-Big Sky second-team selection senior
Ellie Farber also returns after scoring a goal and a pair of assists while starting 17 of 18 matches
• Junior
Jaety Mandaquit, fresh off a 2025-26 academic year that saw her play both soccer and basketball for the Hornets, returns after scoring twice in 18 starts
• In net, there will be a new face with the departure of all three goalkeepers from last season's roster as Utah junior transfer
Alexa Malaspina and Indiana State sophomore transfer
Delaney Timmons will battle for time between the pipes
• A late add to the roster, junior goalkeeper
Hayley Hartsburg returns to the fold to bolster the goalkeeping corps after a season away
• Hartsburg was a member of the Hornets' roster in 2023 and 2024, but did not appear in a match
HELLO, MY NAME IS...
• With only seven players coming back from the 2025 campaign, this year's 20 newcomers are the most since the program's inaugural year in 1994
FOR OPENERS
• Sacramento State is 10-20-2 in regular season openers dating back to 1994
• The Hornets' 3-0 win over Pacific to start the 2025 season snapped a four-match winless streak (0-3-1) in season openers
• This year marks the second-straight year -- and the fifth time overall -- that Sacramento State and Pacific open the season against one another
• Prior to last year's win, the Tigers had won the previous three season-opening clashes between the two schools: 1998 in Sacramento (1-0), 2022 in Sacramento (1-0), and 2008 in Stockton (2-0)
• This year marks the first time that the Hornets open the regular season at home since 2023 when they posted a 1-1 draw with Cal State Bakersfield
• All told, Sacramento State is 12-16-4 in home openers since 1994, going unbeaten in six straight (3-0-3) until a loss to UC Irvine last season
• Thursday marks only the third time that the Tigers will open the home portion of the Hornets' schedule, but the first since 2002
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE GOALS
• When the Hornets kick-off against the Tigers on Aug. 13, it will mark the earliest start to a regular season in the history of the program
• Prior to that, last year's opener at Pacific on Aug. 14 was the earliest, which beat the previous mark of an Aug. 15 opener at UC Davis in 2024
CALIFORNIA DREAMING
• Of Sacramento State's 19 regular season matches, only two -- an early-season jaunt to Reno to take on Nevada and a flight to Utah Valley on Oct. 21 for the first-ever Big West match-up between the two programs -- will be played outside of the state of California.
SO... WE MEET AGAIN
• A pair of reunions are on tap for this week's regular season openers
• When the Hornets kick-off against Pacific on Thursday, Assistant Coach
JJ Wozniak faces-off against the school where he spent five seasons (2021-24) -- including four as the program's Co-Head Coach
• Three days later, Assistant Coach
Janae Braun takes on her alma mater in UC Davis, where she spent two years as an assistant after playing for the Aggies in 2018-19
• Later in the year, Head Coach
Tim Strader will reunite with one of his previous coaching stops when the Hornets host California Baptist on Oct. 28 in Sacramento
• Strader spent five years as an assistant (2018-22) and two as the Lancers' associate head coach (2023-24)
• On the field,
Candace Ching will meet her former school, Nevada, on Aug. 23 in Reno, while
Leah Gimenez will take on her former teammates at Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 10 at home
LET'S PLAY TWO!
• The Sacramento State men's and women's teams will play a pair of doubleheaders this season: the first on Sept. 23 (men vs. UC Riverside and women vs. UC Irvine) and Oct. 17 (men vs. UC Irvine and women vs. Cal State Fullerton)
• Dating back to the debut of the women's program in 1994, the Sacramento State men's and women's teams have played a total of 61 doubleheaders at home
• The Hornet women have fared well in their half of those doubleheaders, posting a 32-21-8 all-time record, while the men are 25-30-6 in their half
• The women are 5-3-2 in their last 10 doubleheaders, while the men are 2-8 in their last 10
• The Hornets have swept a doubleheader 11 times since 1994, last doing so on Aug. 31, 2023, when the men shut out Utah Tech and the women shut out UC Riverside by identical 1-0 scores
• Sacramento State played a record seven doubleheaders in 2007, with the women finishing unbeaten at 6-0-1 in those contests while the men were just 2-5
STATE OF THE HORNETS
• When Sacramento State takes the field in 2026, those in the green and gold will represent seven different states
• Of the 26 student-athletes on this year's roster, 18 of those hail from California, three are from Hawai'i, and the states of Washington, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Nevada boast one Hornet each
• Freshman
Jaz Chang (Honolulu), junior
Jaety Mandaquit (Hilo), and junior
Candace Ching (Mililani) continue a pipeline of Hornet Hawai'ians
• You'd have to go all the way back to the 2016 season to find a Sacramento State roster WITHOUT a student-athlete from Hawai'i as the Hornets have had multiple Hawai'ians on the roster in every year since then
• Outside the state of California, Hawai'i is the most represented state for Hornets as 19 student-athletes have played in the green and gold in the program's history
• Junior
Audrey Schlotfeldt is the 14th women's soccer student-athlete to hail from the state of Washington, which has produced 14 Hornets (second all time in program history)
• Junior
Tanner Michael (Wake Forest, N.C.), junior
Mia Jackson (Atlanta, Ga.), and
Katie Maxwell (Bradenton, Fla.) are all the first-ever Hornets to hail from those states
• Freshman
Harmony Taylor (Las Vegas, Nev.) is the first Nevadan since Minden native Alexa Moss in 2019-20
POLL POSITION
• Entering its first season in the Big West, Sacramento State was picked 12th in the preseason coaches poll, four points behind UC Riverside
• Central Coast rivals Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara were tied atop the poll with 100 points apiece, with the Mustangs edging the Gauchos with five first-place votes to four
• Fellow league newcomers Utah Valley (which received two first-place votes) and California Baptist were picked fourth and sixth, respectively
