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Great motto, one great year can change your life.

In practice, 71 guys came here with intent on getting their one great year regardless. Now ask everyone to be selfless and be a team. I came to get a bag not help the guy next to me. Message and mission are dislocated and most likely one of the greatest issues.

Unfortunately, it seems that both the Sac State president AND the head coach are each here mostly to get their own bag: Take care of yourself, not the university you're supposedly responsible for (Wood), nor the team you're supposed to lead (Marion).

Marta Forsline has posted her commitment on her Instagram site, so she also looks pretty solid.

Last night UCD fought back in the last 4 minutes to gain a 1- 1 tie with Santa Barbara (last season's BW tournament champ; also picked to finish 2nd this year. Gritty, hang-in-there and find a way performance by the Aggies. Stdney Bushman got the equalized with assists by Ana Coverdale and Kylie Redman. Goalie Cat Pieper continues to impress with 7 saves, only conceding a PK.

Next up: Cal Poly at home on Sunday.

Traditionally, Jen Gross has announced signings during the Fall signing period, which this year is 11/12-18. Usually the first day "National Signing Day" is when most commits sign financial aid agreements, usually with some hoopla at their high schools. That's as binding as it gets, though students can ask to be released.

I initially get information on commits at WBB Blog (https://wbbblog.com) which is usually pretty accurate, The I check the social media for the player. Currently, Basset, Dixon and Hicks have announced on their Instagram pages, so they seem pretty solid.

Forsline has not, though she apparently only committed on 9/24, and she also plays volleyball at Mesabi East HS, so may just be too busy. She doesn't seem to be particularly active on social media. There is a post on X from her AAU coach congratulating her on her commitment to UCD. Looking at the schools that she's posted offers from, UCD and the MW Conference are the most prestigious. From watching her highlight on Hudl, Forsline seems something of a "project", despite her stats. But so was Morgan Bertsch, who redshirted as a freshman. So not necessarily a bad thing.

$750,000 BASE SALARY. That doesn’t talk about incentives, “moving allowances”, and things of that nature.

I don’t follow other schools, so I didn’t know that. Probably depends on the new coach and if he was able to bring in some players.

Kind of like Traci Joyner leaving and taking 5-6 transfers and 2-3 recruits with her. If the current UCD WSOC team had those several starters - 4 of whom are among the top XI at Oregon - I doubt our record would be 1-2-2. Plus one of the recruits is the top sub. It probably will take Kat Mertz a couple of years to rebuild our WSOC program.

More about perception, perhaps.

The WCC is a good landing place, as well as an upgrade, for UCSD - and UCI, if they're moving. It's a non-football conference, with basketball and soccer as the headline sports. The big difference is enrollment. The other WCC schools are small, religiously affiliated schools. In the long run, UCSD could become like the 800lb. gorilla in the chimpanzee exhibit.

I remember listening to the basketball game in which UCD won the D2 national championship. The enrollment differential was all the announcers talked about. Similar thing here.

An improved outing last night on the road vs. Pacific. Still need to work on discipline, as UCD had 2x as many fouls as UOP, gave up 3 more corners than we won, and had 2 offsides to none for the Tigers.

I like that Mertz is playing lots of people in the first two games, including two goalies for a half each. Traci Joyner is an outstanding coach, but one criticism I had was that she plays field starters too much. That trend is continuing in her first two games at Oregon. And only gave one goalie any playing time at all.

Mertz is having to deal with the fallout from that now. Only 5 of the Aggies' returning players had anything close to significant playing time under Joyner. In addition to the lack of truly experienced players returning this season, research indicates that greater playing time potentially compromises running performance during late season and postseason competition. Maybe partly why Davis didn't get over the hump in the Big West Tournament.

From my own coaching experience, I believe players need actual game experience as well as practice time to develop optimally. And, if players know they really can or will get regular, significant playing time, they work harder in practice. Not just for the opportunity, but to prepare themselves to take advantage of it.

Virtual scheduling?

“As part of the Palm Springs Holiday Invitational, UC Davis will play road games at Nevada (Nov. 18), and Colorado (Nov. 21), before closing the event at home against Louisiana (Nov. 24).”

No games actually in the city that is “hosting” the event. Too bad; Palm Springs is pretty nice that time of year.

A disappointing game last night. 7 offsides calls (to zero) and 12 fouls (to 8) really hurt. Need to be more disciplined.

Uhh...something called home field advantage.

Why would UCD, in essence, want to give that away to the "visiting team", just so more of the opponents' fans could attend the game?

Great to see the WBB back on thew practice court!

I don'y know if Title IX is necessarily a bigger factor, but I'm sure it's significant, when deciding what new sports to offer, or which to consider cutting.

Remember that baseball, not football, was known for decades as "the national pastime". I imagine all the MW schools have a long history of a baseball program...probably sons following fathers and grandfathers playing in the program. That's a strong support system for continuing baseball. And, like here in Montana where we have our summer cabin, baseball is still extremely popular. Lots of the low-level minor leagues are located in Midwest and Great Plains towns, and there's lots of semipro or town teams. So it's imbedded in the culture here.

Soccer is still a newbie in many areas. While popular, it doesn't have the history or the generations of people who have played the game. Even in CA, where our 7th grade granddaughter plays for a strong Sacramento area club, many of the parents are totally new to the game. Being a longtime residents of Davis, that still always surprises us.

Here in NW Montana, soccer has become quite popular, mostly due to the sustained success of the Montana WSOC team, which is usually at or near the top of the Big Sky Conference. But it has in no way diminished the support for local minor league and semipro baseball teams. And neither Montana, nor Montana State sponsor baseball, though Montana does has softball.

Actually, looking at GCC standings over the last several years, Azusa Pacific generally holds its own. Surprisingly, Santa Clara is often at or neat the bottom of the conference.

The GCC will actually be a tough schedule - California Baptist, Fresno State, Loyola Marymount, University of the Pacific, San Diego State, San Jose State and Santa Clara. Only Azusa Pacific, a D2 school, might be a weak member.

I think that not offering both a men’s and a women’s team in sports like soccer and water polo is more likely linked tp Title IX. A sport like football creates an over-abundance of roster opportunities for men. There’s no comparable sport for women in terms of roster size. Schools have to otherwise cut back on men’s teams they may have the facilities for in order to equalize the opportunities. I think that’s why you see relatively fewer men’s volleyball and gymnastics programs at the college level.

With the announcement of the Women's Water Polo team moving to the Golden Coast Conference in 2026-27, the only UCD program currently remaining in the Big West is Men's Soccer.

What they may like is that Sac State might keep one or two LA high school players from going to another BIG10 or an SEC school, and coming back to haunt the Trojans. Remember that USC cancelled a contract to play UC Davis in 2021...and happily paid to do so.

Sac State very probably won't be on the Trojan schedule anytime soon, so the Hornets are no threat.

In an interview (I think on the BIG Mountain Podcast?), prior to the House settlement, Rocko said that UCD would not opt in for 25-26 because they were going to honor commitments to all students currently on team rosters. The plan was to opt in once those student-athletes graduated. That interview was posted somewhere here on Aggie Sports Talk.
Since the settlement I've heard that Davis would opt in since existing student-athletes were grandfathered in. But I haven't seen or heard any official announcement.

Corrected.