Sports

The UC Davis football team entered the 2009-10 season with a new defense and optimism about the team's possibilities going forward.

The team is still optimistic, but the Aggies' challenging schedule isn't making it easy for them.

There are some of us out there that can name each of the past five World Series Most Valuable Players, their average during the series and the number of RBI they had during the four- to seven-game stretch. There are others of us who can recall how many Super Bowls the Buffalo Bills have been to and what their record is in those games (sorry, Bills fans, but you're 0-5).

If you see one of the golfers on the UC Davis team around campus and they seem relaxed or at ease at all, it's because they have a good reason to be.

Though the Aggies have been unable to win either of their two fall tournaments, they have been hanging around at the top of leaderboard in each one.

Over the past two seasons, UC Davis men's soccer has established itself both as a legitimate Division I program and as a national title threat. The 2009 version of the squad, however, hasn't had as much luck as in past years to start its season.

With a 26-man roster consisting of a mere nine upperclassman, a learning curve is to be expected but after two straight years of NCAA tournament appearances, a 2-5 record to start the season is difficult to get used to.

After losing all six starters, seven seniors and 59 percent of their goal production from last season, the Aggies knew they had their work cut out for them this year.

Another curveball has been thrown the Aggies' way as starting hole set and offensive weapon, Aaron Salit, decided to red shirt in 2009 along with junior Walter Eggert, the team's sprinter and most experienced player.

It's two weeks before school starts on a Saturday night and I'm walking around Aggie Stadium.

The football team is in the midst of a very compelling game against No. 4 Montana and over 9,000 Aggie Pack faithful are there to see it.

Name: Paul Marcoux

Year: Senior

Sport: Men's soccer

Position: Midfielder/forward

Last season, Marcoux was overshadowed by the likes of teammates Quincy Amarikwa, Sule Anibaba and Dylan Curtis.

This year, Marcoux will step into the limelight of the Aggies squad as one of the co-captains of the 2009 team.

The Mountain View, Calif. native, who was an all-Big West Conference Honorable Mention selection in 2008, has already scored three goals this season including one in game-winning fashion.

Marcoux scored twice in a 3-1 win over Central Arkansas at the UNLV Nike Invitional in Las Vegas on Sept. 6.

First-year coach Vianney Campos uses phrases such as "an opportunity to grow" to describe her team through its first eight games.

This stretch for the Aggies has been nothing shy of that, as not one player on the roster had Division-I game experience prior to the start of the season.

By finishing second at last year's Big West Championship and sending representatives to the NCAA Finals and the U.S. Women's Open, the UC Davis women's golf team has set the expectations high for this season.

Coach Anne Walker doesn't think that will be a problem.

In 17 games last season, the UC Davis women's soccer team only managed to score a total of 17 goals.

Through only seven games this season, the Aggies have already amassed 20 goals and posted a 4-2-1 record to start the season.

The brilliant offensive play of the Aggies so far has coach MaryClaire Robinson praising their style of play.

After 16 combined wins the last two seasons, a nine-win summer in 2009 has the women's volleyball team anticipating the upcoming Big West Conference schedule. So far, the Aggies have participated in four tournaments and the Causeway battle against Sacramento State last week. They have compiled a record of 9-5 after fourteen matches against some stiff competition.

Women's volleyball

After losing their first match, the Aggies won their final three contests at the Mary Jo Invitational in Springfield, Mo. over the weekend.

UC Davis fell to host Missouri State in four sets to open the tournament, then put together sweeps of Mississippi State, Memphis and Stephen F. Austin.

Senior libero Avreeta Singh totaled 62 digs for the tournament while setter Carson Lowden had 135 assists. Freshman Allison Whitson led the Aggies in kills with 43 kills. She also had 12 blocks.

UC Davis had its best performance of the tournament in the last match against Stephen F. Austin, hitting .375 as a team and serving up six aces.

The Aggies are now 5-2 on the season.

Quarterback Greg Denham and linebacker Mike Morales spoke about the ambiance of Bulldog Stadium after the Aggies faced Fresno State.

"The atmosphere was great," Denham said. "It's something everybody hopes for."

"We want our program to be at this level and go beyond this level, too," Morales said.

UC Davis traveled to Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend for a different reason than the thousands of vacationers.

The Aggies were not there to take some time off from work, but rather to put some work in at the UNLV Nike Invitational.

Play opened up with a match-up against Robert Morris on Friday. UC Davis marched through the Colonials, shutting them out 3-0.

The Aggies followed Friday's dominating performance with a 3-1 victory over Central Arkansas on Sunday.

With the two wins over the weekend at the Invitational, UC Davis moves to 2-1 on the season after getting off to a rough start at Spartan Stadium on last Tuesday.

In the first road game of the season for the UC Davis women's soccer team, the Aggies made it clear that they came to play.

UC Davis started its first of four straight road games with an indisputable 5-0 victory over Cal State Bakersfield.

The non-conference game was expected to be tough for the Aggies as the Roadrunners looked to snap a two game losing streak.

Despite an aggressive style of play and good ball control the Runners were unable to connect as they were banked for the first time this season.