Event: Irvine Invitational
Teams: No. 7 UC Davis vs. No. 10 Arizona State; TBA ; TBA; TBA
Records: Aggies, 9-3; Sun Devils, 7-3
Where: Anteater Pool – Irvine, Calif.
When: Saturday at 10 a.m. and TBA; Sunday at TBA and TBA
Who to watch: Although the scoring for the Aggies has been balanced in their first 12 games, one player has been producing greater than anyone‘s expectations.
Sophomore Dakotah Mohr had 14 goals in last weekend‘s Roadrunner Invitational and leads the team with 20 scores on the season. She has also drawn 45 exclusions, which puts her fourth all-time in the UC Davis single season record books – less than halfway through the season.
Did you know? Six different Aggies have 10-plus goals on the season and all 18 players have recorded at least two goals.
Preview: UC Davis is hot, having won four straight and seven of its last eight. This weekend, the Aggies are looking to more of the same against a slew of ranked opponents.
The Irvine Invitational annually boasts as competitive a field as any tournament in the country. This year, the Invitational offers up 15 of the top 16 teams in the nation.
UC Davis starts off its weekend against the Sun Devils, who were ranked No. 7 last week before the Aggies took over that slot.
“Arizona State has a few strong players,“ coach Jamey Wright said. “It will be a similar kind of thing where we key on two or three strong players and force the rest of the team to beat us.“
If the Aggies overcast the Sun Devils, then they will most likely match up with the No. 1 team in the country, USC.
The Invitational also includes the other four ranked Big West Conference teams: No. 12 UC Irvine, No. 13 Cal State Northridge, No. 14 Long Beach State and No. 20 UC Santa Barbara.
The Aggies are looking to keep confusing teams with their variety of lineups, as even the goalie position has been interchangeable between junior Casey Hines and senior Diana Pivacek.
“We wanted to see more people get to play in different combinations,“ Wright said.
This young, diverse squad can show that they have more than just depth in their toughest test yet this weekend in Irvine.
– Sammy Brasch
