Teams: No. 11 UC Davis vs. Sonoma State; No. 17 Cal State Bakersfield; No. 1 Stanford; Santa Clara
Records: Aggies, 11-5; Seawolves, 4-5; Roadrunners, 9-4; Cardinal, 12-1; Broncos, 8-8
Where: Schaal Aquatic Center
When: Saturday at 10:30 a.m., 6 p.m.; Sunday at noon, 4:30 p.m.
Who to watch: The Aggies‘ leading goal scorer is on pace to break a UC Davis single-season record that has little to do with finding the back of the net.
A Davis native, Dakotah Mohr leads the team with 23 goals and 70 drawn exclusions. With more than half the season left, the sophomore is just 22 drawn exclusions short of Christi Raycraft’s 2008 record of 92.
Did you know? Stanford recently gained the No. 1 spot in the country due to its overtime victory over USC at the Irvine Invitational.
The Cardinal can thank its top scorer Melissa Seidemann for the win. Her older sister, Lauren, was doing more of the same for UC Davis, leading the Aggies over Cal State Northridge with two goals.
Preview: After taking their first weekend off from competition since late January, the Aggies are looking to jump-start their long-awaited, eight-game homestand with a successful weekend.
“I don’t think we’ve ever worked as hard in a week as we did last week,” coach Jamey Wright said.
UC Davis is coming off of an uneventful 11th-place finish at the Irvine Invitational, dropping it four spots in the national rankings. The Aggies are looking to move back up this weekend against a variety of quality opponents.
Facing clubs ranging from a talented Bakersfield team to the best squad in the country in Stanford, UC Davis will be faced with a mirage of challenges in the water.
“We will have to bring our ‘A‘ game to match what [our opponents] will have,” Wright said.
This will be the Aggies‘ first home game since April 2008.
– Sammy Brasch
