Teams: UC Davis at Pacific
Records: Aggies, 3-11 (1-4); Tigers, 2-12 (0-5)
Where: Brookside Field – Stockton, Calif.
When: Saturday at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: Junior forward Emily Mecke demonstrated her offensive prowess in the Aggies’ last game, scoring twice against California.
Mecke currently leads the team in scoring with six goals, good for 10th in the NorPac Conference.
Did you know? In addition to being a Pacific alum, coach Vianney Campos spent two years as the assistant coach to the Pacific women’s field hockey team.
The current seniors on the Pacific team are the last of the students that she coached for the school.
Preview: Saturday’s match against the Tigers will be the final regular-season game for UC Davis. After two heartbreaking losses against NorPac rivals Stanford and Cal, the Aggies are ready to end the season with a win.
Campos believes that her team has all of the motivation that they need to accomplish that goal.
“The girls have a chip on their shoulder,” she said. “They don’t like playing well and still losing.”
This is not the first time that the Aggies will face off against the Tigers. In their first NorPac game of the season, UC Davis pulled off a solid 3-1 victory over their conference rivals. The Aggies hope that this added confidence will help lead them to another win.
Campos also believes that her team will be aided by the fact that they are accustomed to playing on grass, something that could negate Pacific’s home-field advantage.
“We’re very comfortable in [Pacific’s] field,” she commented.
While the team is eager to end the regular season on a high note, this match has added significance due to the way that it will set the tone heading into the NorPac Tournament next week.
“I think we have a lot of momentum from playing against two top 20 teams and having a lot of success in many areas [in those games],” Campos explained. “We just need to continue with the momentum we’ve been having … We want to continue that momentum into NorPac.”
UC Davis hopes that the results of Saturday’s game will propel them into further success in the first game of the NorPac tournament on Tuesday at Stanford.
– Kaitlyn Zufall
