Teams: UC Davis at St. Mary’s
Records: Aggies, 0-1 (0-1); Gaels, 0-1 (0-0)
Where: St. Mary’s Stadium – Moraga, Calif.
When: Sunday at 7 p.m.
Who to watch? Midfielder Molly Lapolla is coming off of a two-goal, one-assist performance in last Saturday’s opening game loss to the Oregon Ducks.
A Menlo Park, Calif. native, Lapolla had 16 points during the 2008 campaign. Entering her junior season, she is set to lead an incredibly young women’s lacrosse squad through a gauntlet of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and non-league opponents.
Did you know? The last time the Aggies and the Gaels met was in the fifth-place game of the conference tournament. The Aggies outscored the Gaels 13-11 in the MPSF tourney to spite a regular season record of 6-10.
The young Aggies head into their second game of this season’s conference play with ambitions of improving on last year’s record.
Preview: The Aggies hope to rebound from a 13-6 loss to Oregon on Valentine’s Day. Love was not in the air as the Ducks jumped out to an insurmountable 8-0 lead.
After being down 10-2 at the half, the Aggies gave up three quick goals in the second half, increasing the Ducks‘ lead to 13-2. Lapolla started a late-game, 4-0 run to bring the Aggies back from the depths of a double-digit deficit, giving them something positive to build off of for the upcoming game against the Gaels.
St. Mary’s also enters Sunday’s matchup fresh off of a defeat. The Gaels fell to the Albany Great Danes, 14-9, last Sunday. However, Gaels senior middy P.J. Hainley led all scorers with six points (four goals, two assists).
The Aggies travel down to Moraga to take on a Gaels team looking for redemption following last year’s MPSF tournament defeat. Look for a great game from St. Mary’s Stadium on Sunday.
– John Heller
