SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's soccer team opens its inaugural season in The Big West with a pair of matches this week, welcoming UC Irvine to Northern California before heading down the coast to take on UC Santa Barbara on the road.

The Hornets and Anteaters kick-off on Wednesday (Sept. 26) at 10 a.m., before Sacramento State meets the Gauchos on Saturday (Sept. 26) at 7 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.

THIS WEEK…
MATCH #9
WHAT: UC Irvine (2-3-2, 0-0 Big West) at Sacramento State (4-2-2, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
TIME: 10 AM
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

MATCH #10
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-2-2, 0-0 Big West) at UC Santa Barbara (5-1-3, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026
WHERE: Santa Barbara, Calif.
TIME: 7 PM
STADIUM: Harder Stadium
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UCSBGauchos.com

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | UC Irvine | UC Santa Barbara | The Big West

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 in 2024
• This is Schroeder's first year as a captain

LET'S PLAY TWO!
• The Sacramento State men's and women's teams will play a pair of doubleheaders this season: the first coming this Wednesday (men vs. UC Riverside and women vs. UC Irvine) and again on 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

SCOUTING UC IRVINE
• The Anteaters enter the week with a 2-3-2 overall record and are coming off a 4-1 home win over Fresno State in their last outing
• UC Irvine and Sacramento State have two opponents in common this season, with each school posting wins over Southern Utah and the Hornets posting a draw with Fresno State
• Wednesday marks the Anteaters' fourth road contest of the season, having lost two of their three matches away from home
• Sophomore forwards Oona Hartman and Fiona Shin share the team lead with five points apiece on two goals and an assist
• UCI has been outscored by a 14-8 count this year, but has outshot its opponents, 73-72
• Fifth-year goalkeeper Savanna Arruda has played all but 45 minutes in net, posting a 2.15 goals against average and 19 saves (.576 save percentage)

SERIES NOTABLES
• UC Irvine leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 3-0 count
• Including Wednesday's match, three of the four all-time meetings will have come in the last four years, with the first-ever match between the two played in 1994
• The Hornets have not scored a goal in the history of the series with the Anteaters, outscored 12-0 in the three previous meetings
• Wednesday marks the second straight meeting between the two in Sacramento with the last ending in a 4-0 win for UC Irvine in 2025

SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
• The Gauchos enter the week with a 5-1-3 overall record and are unbeaten with a 3-0-2 mark at home
• UCSB hosts Long Beach State on Wednesday before welcoming Sacramento State
• The Gauchos have won their last two, defeating a pair of Big Sky Conference programs in Idaho State (3-1) and Weber State (2-1) back on Sept. 10 and 13
• UC Santa Barbara is unbeaten in its last five (2-0-3) dating back to a 2-0 loss to California Baptist in a non-conference affair on Aug. 27
• That run included draws with UC Davis (1-1), North Dakota (2-2), and North Dakota State (3-3)
• Sophomore Delilah Vega-Aguilar leads the team with four goals and eight points overall -- all of those coming in the team's last five matches
• Ten different Gauchos have scored, helping the team outscore the opposition, 17-10
• Senior goalkeeper Maddie Buckley has started eight of the nine matches, posting a 1.29 goals against average and 29 saves (.763 save percentage) to go with a pair of shutouts

SERIES NOTABLES
• Saturday marks the 14th all-time meeting between UC Santa Barbara and Sacramento State
• The Gauchos lead the series, 8-2-3, and are unbeaten in the seven straight (5-0-2) dating back to 2014
• This is the third straight year that the two programs will go head-to-head
• The Hornets' last win in the series came back in 2009 -- a 1-0 victory at home
• Sacramento State's last result in the series came in a 1-1 draw at home in 2024
• This year's meeting is the second straight in Santa Barbara and the seventh all-time on the Central Coast, with the Gauchos holding a 4-1-1 advantage in the series on their home field

OPENING ACT
• Wednesday marks the first-ever Big West opener for the Hornets, who were 13-11-6 in 30 years worth of conference openers in the Big Sky Conference
• Sacramento State won two of its final three Big Sky Conference lid-lifters, posting wins over Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado by identical 1-0 scores in that stretch in 2023 and 2025
• The Hornets' last three conference openers have ended in shutouts for one team
• Wednesday marks the 13th time that Sacramento State will open conference play at home, posting a 6-3-3 record in its previous 12 such matches
• This year marks the firs time that the Hornets open league play at home since the aforementioned win over the Lumberjacks in 2023

LONG TIME COMING
• Four seasons ago, goalkeeper Hayley Hartsburg joined the Sacramento State women's soccer program as part of a sizable freshman class for the Hornets
• Last Thursday at San Jose State, the Clovis, Calif., native officially made her Division I debut, making four saves and facing 18 shots against the Spartans

NOT FOR A LACK OF EFFORT
• Despite being shut out for the first time this season, the Hornets pressed the issue against San Jose State last week, collecting 15 shots and putting eight of those on frame against San Jose State
• It marked the third time in the team's last four matches -- and the fifth time in eight contests overall -- that Sacramento State had reached double-digits in that category
• The 15 attempts were the second-most by the Hornets this year, trailing only the 22 shots at Fresno State, while the eight shots on goal are tied for the second-highest total in 2026 behind the 15 on target against the Bulldogs

STAY ON TARGET
• Sacramento State's 55 shots on goal are the fourth-most in The Big West this year (just four off the league lead of Long Beach State), while its 6.88 shots on goal per match are third
• The Hornets have put shots on goal at a nearly 58 percent clip this season (55-of-95) -- a percentage that leads the conference over second-place California Baptist (.528, 38-of-72) and standing as one of three schools in the league which have put more than half their attempts on goal entering the week (Long Beach State is third at 51 percent)

NOTHING BUT NET
• Sacramento State has outscored opponents by a 14-11 margin this year, powered by seven different Hornets who have found the back of the net 
• The 14 goals midway through the season are quickly closing in on last season's goal total of 16 and enter the week tied for third in The Big West, while the Hornets stand fifth with 35 total points

AMONG THE BEST IN THE BIG WEST
• Ching has put 10 of her 14 total shots on frame this year, ranking sixth in the league
• Her five goals are second in The Big West, five off Long Beach State's Cherrie Cox's total
• Meanwhile, Ching's 11 points make her one of three players in the conference with double-digit points, standing third behind Cox (21) and Cal State Fullerton's Cassie Villanueva (12)
• Senior Ellie Farber's two game-winning goals this year are tied for second in the league

WELCOME TO THE CHING DYNASTY
• There is no Hornet hotter than junior midfielder Candace Ching, who continued her torrid tear by scoring a goal and adding an assist against Saint Mary's on Sept. 10
• The goal was her career-high fifth of the season and pushed her team-high point total to 11 thanks to the assist -- all coming in her first start of the season
• The five goals are the most by a Hornet since Kylee Kim-Bustillos finished with nine scores en route to a 21-point season in 2019
• Her eight career goals are the most of any active Sacramento State player
• Of Ching's team-high 11 points, nine of those have come in the last three matches