SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One of only two unbeaten, untied schools in The Big West following the first week of play, the streaking Sacramento State women's soccer team remains on the road for two more against local rivals this week.

The Hornets head to the Bay Area on Thursday (Aug. 20) for a 6 p.m. kick-off at San Francisco, then make the trip up I-80 to face Nevada on Sunday (Aug. 23) at Noon.

Thursday's match against the Dons will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform, while Sunday's contest will be shown on the Mountain West Plus platform (subscription required)

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #3
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-0 overall) at San Francisco (1-0 overall)
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026
WHERE: San Francisco, Calif.
TIME: 6 PM
STADIUM: Negoesco Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: USFDons.com

MATCH #4
WHAT: Sacramento State (2-0 overall) at Nevada (0-0 overall)
WHEN: Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026
WHERE: Reno, Nev.
TIME: Noon
STADIUM: Mackay Stadium
WATCH: Mountain West Plus ($)
LIVE STATS: NevadaWolfPack.com

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | San Francisco | Nevada | The Big West

AMONG THE BEST IN THE WEST
• Following the first week of play, Sacramento State is ranked No. 9 in the first United Soccer Coaches Division I West Region poll
• The Hornets are one of six schools from The Big West in the top 10

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), men's golf (2025), 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 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

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY FOR JACKSON
• Sacramento State junior Mia Jackson made a bit of history for the Hornets' women's soccer program on Monday after being named The Big West Offensive Player of the Week following her team's scintillating start to the 2026 campaign
• She becomes the first Sacramento State player to earn a Big West weekly award in women's soccer and the first Hornet to earn one at the offensive end since Abigail Lopez did so in the Big Sky Conference on Oct. 8, 2024.
• After spending the first two years of her career at Troy University, Jackson made her debut with Sacramento State a memorable one, scoring twice in the win over Pacific for the first two goals of her collegiate career
• In the process, she became the first Hornet to record a brace since Aubrey Goodwill did so in a 2-2 draw with Cal State Bakersfield on Sept. 18, 2022
• Since that match, 23 different Hornets had combined for 53 goals -- only nine of those with more than two goals in that span

SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO
• The Dons enter the week with a 1-0 record after  handing Cal State Bakersfield a 4-0 loss in their season opener back on Aug. 13
• San Francisco is coming off a 2025 campaign that saw it finish 3-11-4 overall and 2-7-2 in West Coast Conference play
• After finishing ninth in last year's WCC standings, the Dons were picked to finish 10th according to a preseason vote of the league's head coaches
• Having lost its top two scorers from a year ago, sophomore forward Alicia Osegueda is the team's leading returning scorer after finishing with a pair of goals en route to WCC All-Freshman Team honors
• Another WCC All-Freshman Team selection, goalkeeper Tyra Bengtsson-Stenseth, also returns after starting all 18 matches in net, finishing with 69 saves, five shutouts, and a .697 save percentage

SERIES NOTABLES
• San Francisco leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 9-3
• The Dons have won the last two meetings with the Hornets, but the two schools have not faced one another since a 5-0 USF victory in 2018
• Sacramento State's last win in the series came via a 1-0 victory on Sept. 9, 2011, at home
• The Hornets have never won on the Dons' home field, going 0-7 dating back to 1994

SCOUTING NEVADA
• Following a 2-0 exhibition victory over UC Merced on Sunday, the Wolf Pack officially open their season on Thursday (Aug. 20) at Pacific before coming home to host Sacramento State
• Nevada is coming off a 2025 campaign that saw it finish 2-14-2 overall and 1-8-1 in the Mountain West Conference, ending the year 12th out of 13 teams in the league table
• This year, the Wolf Pack were picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams according to the conference's preseason poll, just ahead of San Jose State and just behind UTEP
• Senior forward -- and Sacramento native -- Olivia Loomis is the team's leading returning scorer after scoring twice and assisting on two more goals last season
• She was one of only seven players to score for Nevada, which returns five of its 14 goals scored from a season ago
• Senior goalkeeper Mia Collins returns after playing all but 90 minutes in net in 2025, finishing with 101 saves (.711 save percentage) and a 2.56 goals against average

SERIES NOTABLES
• Nevada leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 11-8-1
• Sunday's match will be the first between the two schools since a 3-0 Wolf Pack victory on Sept. 4, 2022
• That win put a stop to a three-match winning streak in the series by the Hornets, who won in 2018 (3-2), 2019 (1-0), and 2021 (3-0)
• Sacramento State has won a match in Reno only once (1-7-1) in program history, posting a 2-1 double-overtime victory on Sept. 21, 2003
• The Hornets' only other result in Reno came in a 3-3 draw in 2007
• Either Sacramento State or Nevada has scored multiple goals against one another in all but three of the 20 all-time meetings -- including a five spot by the Hornets in the first-ever meeting on Aug. 27, 2000
• The Wolf Pack leads the all-time scoring, 35-31
• The 31 goals scored against the Wolf Pack are the seventh-most against any one opponent in school history

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 letter winners and one redshirt from last season's squad, with five of those six letter winners seeing significant time in the starting 11 a season ago
• Bolstering that group is a rather sizable class of 20 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 on the Hornets' roster in 2023 and 2024, but did not appear in a match

WHAT A DEBUT
• With its win over Pacific, Sacramento State was victorious in its season opener for the second straight year -- both coming against the Tigers by a combined 8-2 score
• Thursday's win gave the Hornets season-opening wins in back-to-back years for the first time since 2016 (2-0 over Cal State Bakersfield) and 2017 (2-1 at Saint Mary's)
• The five goals were the most in a season opener since a 6-2 victory over Memphis in 2000 and were the most in a match overall since the Hornets blanked Eastern Washington, 5-0, on Oct. 5 of last season
• In his Sacramento State debut, Strader became the third head coach in program history to win their first match with the Hornets, joining Sandra Asimos (3-1 over Arizona in the program's first-ever match in 1994) and Randy Dedini (4-0 over Mount St. Mary's in 2007)
• 12 of the 20 Hornet newcomers saw time in the season opener, including six who were in the starting XI

LONG TIME COMING
• Sacramento State's 1-0 shutout of Causeway rival UC Davis on Aug. 16 marked the program's first win over the Aggies since 2017, snapping a seven-match (0-6-1) winless streak against UC Davis in the process

TWO AND OH MY!
• Sacramento State has started a season with a 2-0 record for the second consecutive season and only the fourth time in school history along with the 2000 and 2007 campaigns

HORNETS IN THE PROS
• After suiting up for the green and gold, a few recent Hornet women's soccer alumnae have continued their careers in the professional ranks with clubs around the world
• Abigail Lopez (2021-24) signed with Club Puebla in Mexico's Liga BBVA MX Femenil, making her professional debut on Jan. 4, 2026 against the Rayados de Monterrey
• Joining Lopez in Liga MX, Alejandra Melendez (2024) signed a contract with Club Necaxa ahead of the 2026 season
• Goalkeeper Mia Shalit (2021-23) recently signed a contract with Club Universitario de Deportes in Peru after spending a season with Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem in Israel
• Jennifer Lum recently recommitted with Keilor Park SC in Melbourne, Australia, for the 2026 season after helping the club earn promotion from the Victoria Premier League to the National Premier League

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 inception in 1994
• According to those schools who responded to a national survey, Sacramento State is one of four schools in the country with 20-or-more newcomers, ranking tied for third on that list along with Northern Iowa and trailing only Big West rival Cal State Bakersfield and Washington State, which have 23
• Meanwhile, the seven returners are tied for the fewest of any NCAA Division I program along with both the Roadrunners and Panthers

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 California.

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 61 total 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 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
• 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