Teams: UC Davis at Oregon
Records: Aggies 10-3 (2-2); Ducks 6-6 (3-0)
Where: Pape Field – Eugene, Ore.
When: Sunday at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: Defense has been one of the key reasons for the Aggies’ success this season, and the anchor to the UC Davis back line has been freshman goalkeeper Jordan Majka.
The Lake Forest, Ill. local recorded six saves in the Aggies’ heartbreaking loss to Denver last week, and is allowing an average of just over 10 goals per-game.
Did you know? Sophomore Hannah Mirza is on the verge of making history for UC Davis.
Mirza is just two draw controls away from breaking the school’s single-season mark for that statistic.
The current record is held by Megan O’Connor, who set the bar in 2006.
Mirza’s average of 4.23 draw controls per-game ranks her eighth in the nation.
Preview: The time for the Aggies to make a playoff push is now.
UC Davis sits in fifth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, just half a game outside of the final playoff spot.
While the Aggies may be close in the standings, two major hurdles stand between them and a postseason birth.
The first of those hurdles comes this weekend, in the form of a match-up with Oregon.
The Ducks are currently undefeated in conference play, and UC Davis will need to do all the little things right to come away victorious.
“It’s things as simple as passing and catching and protecting your stick,” said coach Elaine Jones. “Just little things like that that we won’t be able to get away with this week.”
If there’s one thing the Aggies have learned over the past week, it’s that even if they fall behind, they are never out of a game.
UC Davis found itself trailing at halftime in both of last week’s contests, only to ultimately come back and take the lead.
While the Aggies will hope to lead throughout this weekend’s game, if they fall behind they know they are not done.
“This team is resilient,” Jones said. “They knew what they were facing [when we fell behind], and once they scored that first goal they came back.”
– Trevor Cramer
