SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The 2025 non-conference slate comes to a close for the Sacramento State women's soccer team this week as the Hornets host Causeway rival UC Davis on Thursday at 3 p.m. in their only match of the week. The match will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.
MATCH #10
WHAT: UC Davis (1-4-3 overall) at Sacramento State (4-5 overall)
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
TIME: 3 PM PT
STADIUM: Hornet Soccer Field
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
WEEKLY NOTES: Sacramento State | UC Davis | Big Sky Conference
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAINS!
• Senior Isabella Vinsonhaler and junior Ellie Farber have been named captains for 2025
• This year marks the fourth time that Vinsonhaler has been named a team captain, while Farber was named a team captain for the first time in her Hornet career as a sophomore in 2024
SCOUTING UC DAVIS
• The Aggies enter the week with a 1-4-3 overall record and are winless in their last six (0-4-2) dating back to a 2-1 win at Pacific back on Aug. 17
• UC Davis opened last week with a scoreless draw at LMU and fell to Montana, 1-0, at home
• Outside of the three draws, all five matches for the Aggies have been decided by a single goal, including a pair of 1-0 results (both losses) in their last three outings
• Thursday's match is also the non-conference finale for UC Davis, which opens Big West play against UC Santa Barbara at home on Sept. 25
• The Aggies have scored only six goals all year while surrendering nine
• Senior midfielder Genavieve Fonts leads the team in scoring with two of the team's six goals, while putting eight of her 17 shots on frame
• Senior forward Sarah Canavan leads the team with a pair of assists
• Junior goalkeeper Cat Pieper has started all eight matches, allowing six goals in 540 minutes (1.00 goals against average), while stopping 26 of the 101 shots put her way (.813 save percentage)
SERIES NOTABLES
• UC Davis leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 16-5-4
• The Aggies are unbeaten in their last six (5-0-1) against the Hornets and are 12-1-4 against Sacramento State in the last 17 meetings since 2007
• The Hornets' last win in the series came in a 1-0 victory in Davis on Sept. 11, 2017
• Sacramento State is 3-8-3 at home against UC Davis, but the Aggies are unbeaten in their last eight (5-0-3) on the Hornets' home field
• Sacramento State's last win at home came on Sept. 3, 2006, in a 2-1 victory
• The two schools have met every year (save for the pandemic season of 2020) since 2003
PALMATIER HONORED... AGAIN
• For the second time this season and the fifth time in her career, junior goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16
• The Folsom, Calif., native won her first award back on Aug. 26 following her shutout of Oregon during the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff in Honolulu, Hawai'i
• Palmatier's five career defensive player of the week awards are tied for second in school history with Savannah Abercrombie (2008-11) and trails only Aaliyah Fesili (2017, 2019-20) for the most by an individual in program history
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 28-56-15 against the current Big West women's soccer alignment
• Thursday's match against UC Davis is the fifth and final one against a Big West school in 2025, with the Hornets looking to improve on a 1-3 mark
• Sacramento State has faced all but one of the Big West schools in its history, having faced every school except UC San Diego which joined the league in 2020
• With the team's win over CSUN last week, the Hornets snapped a three-match (0-2-1) winless streak against Big West opponents
MOVIN' ON UP
• Thanks to her seven saves against CSUN last week, Palmatier upped her career total to 215
• Ranking fourth on the school's all-time list, Palmatier now stands just three stops shy of Fesili for fourth on the career chart
• The seven saves were also enough to clinch the 14th career shutout for Palmatier, giving her sole possession of third on the school's career list and moving her to within four of Fesili for second
• Entering the week, Palmatier leads the Big Sky in total saves (39), saves per match (6.50), and save percentage (.848)
• She also stands fourth with a 1.27 goals against average, is second in overall shutouts (3), and shares the top spot in shutouts per match (0.50)
• Nationally, Palmatier is No. 12 in the NCAA in saves per game and No. 41 in total saves, while ranking No. 47 in shutouts and No. 48 in save percentage
• Palmatier's 11 saves against Hawai'i back on Sept. 7 -- the most by a Big Sky keeper entering the week -- matched her career high set against Cal Poly on Aug. 29, 2024, and marked the fourth time she has finished with double-digit saves in her career
• Her 107 saves last season led the Big Sky Conference and were the most by a league goalkeeper since Eastern Washington's Kelsee Winston stopped 116 in 2021
• Palmatier also became the second Hornet keeper to lead the league in saves, joining Aailyah Fesili in 2020 (62)
WALLER WAS WAITING
• Making her third start of the year against UC Santa Barbara last weekend, freshman goalkeeper Cynthia Waller finished with a career-high eight saves against the Gauchos
• The total -- which was one short of her season total entering the match -- is tied for the second-most by a Hornet keeper this year, matching Palmatier's eight saves in a win over Oregon on Aug. 21
• Waller's previous best was five saves against Fresno State back on Aug. 31
SPILL THE TEA
• Junior Tea Reyes was responsible for the Hornets' lone goal in the win over CSUN, netting her second of the season in the first half of a 1-0 victory
• The score made her the second Sacramento State player to score multiple goals this year along with teammate Jaety Mandaquit, while the San Jose, Calif., native moved into the team lead with five total points
• Reyes has put 10 of her 19 shot attempts on frame, ranking eighth in the Big Sky in total shots, 10th in shots per match (2.11), and tied for sixth in shots on goal
NON-CON PHENOMENON
• Sacramento State's four victories in non-conference play are the most for the program since the Hornets won six matches outside of Big Sky Conference play in 2019
• That season, Sacramento State finished 11-2-6 overall and 5-0-4 in league matches
ALUMNAE NEWS
• Ali Fuamatu-Ma'afala (2022-24) was called into camp with the American Samoa Women's National Team on Sept. 9 in advance of the nation's qualifying matches for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup
• Selections will be made prior to a series of friendlies in November and the World Cup qualifying rounds in Avarua, Rarotaonga, in the Cook Islands in December
• Jennifer Lum (2012-15) recently helped her Keilor Park Soccer Club earn promotion to the National Premier League in Victoria, Australia, for 2026 after scoring 11 goals in 18 matches in 2025
• Keilor Park finished 18-2-2 for 56 points and a second-place finish in the Victorian Premier League in 2025
RECYCLED NOTES
POLL POSITION
• Sacramento State was picked to finish in a tie for fourth in the regular Big Sky standings according to a preseason vote of the league's head coaches released on Monday (Aug. 11)
• The Hornets received 39 points total and one first-place vote to match Northern Arizona, which also picked up 39 points
• Reigning regular season champion Montana was picked to repeat, receiving six first-place votes and 60 points, followed by Eastern Washington (52, 2 first-place votes), and Idaho (49) in the top three
PRESEASON LAURELS FOR SHARTS, FARBER
• Senior defender Sydney Sharts and junior midfielder Ellie Farber were both selected to the 12-member preseason All-Big Sky team
• The duo becomes the first two Hornets to earn preseason all-conference laurels in the first year that the league has released a preseason honor roll
TRADING THE SKY FOR THE WEST
• The 2025 season will be the Hornets' final season in the Big Sky as all of Sacramento State's athletic teams outside of football will transition to the Big West Conference beginning in 2026-27
• The Hornets will be leaving the only conference that they have ever known, as they have competed as a Big Sky member since the 1996 campaign -- just two years after Sacramento State began sponsoring the sport in 1994
• Three of the Hornets' future Big West rivals are on the schedule for the 2025 campaign in UC Irvine (Aug. 28), CSUN (Sept. 11), and UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 14)
HORNETS AT A GLANCE
• Sacramento State is coming off a storybook 2024 campaign that saw the Hornets finish 5-7-9 overall and 3-2-3 in the Big Sky Conference, eventually becoming the first school in league history to win the conference tournament all via penalty kick results
• The Hornets won the title, and ensuing NCAA Tournament berth, for the third time in school history and the first since 2010, falling to top-seeded USC, 5-0, in the first round
• Sacramento State returns 15 letter winners and eight starters off of last season squad, welcoming 11 newcomers -- five of those transfers -- and a pair of returning redshirts to the fold for 2025
• Six of the eight players who found the back of the net for the Hornets last season return for this season led by junior midfielder Ellie Farber, who finished with three goals and three assists in 2024
• Candace Ching, Ariana Scholten, Sydney Sharts, and Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia all finished with a pair of goals, while Lexi Schroeder netted her first career strike in the Big Sky Tournament
• In net, junior goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier returns after starting all 21 matches and playing in all but five minutes of last season's campaign, posting a 1.30 goals against average and 107 saves to go with five shutouts
• Sophomore keeper Sierra Sonko also returns after picking up Big Sky Tournament MVP honors thanks to her performances in penalties when she saved 6-of-18 attempts
NEW FACE ON THE BENCH
• Janae Braun joins the Hornets' sideline as a volunteer assistant coach in 2025
• Braun was an assistant at Causeway rival UC Davis for the last two seasons (2023-24)
• Was a two-year letter winner for the Aggies in 2018-19 after spending her first two collegiate seasons at Santa Clara in 2015-16
• Also brings an extensive international and professional playing resume, competing with the Mexican U17 National Team while also playing with Club America, Mazatlan FC, and the WPSL's California Storm, while also becoming a member of the inaugural USA Futsal National Team
TIE ME A RIVER
• With nine draws in 2024, Sacramento State set a new single-season school record for ties, surpassing the previous mark of six set in 2019
• The nine draws were also tied for the most in the nation, joining Wyoming (4-6-9), UC Santa Barbara (8-6-9), and Towson (6-4-9)
• Last year's total fell just one shy of the NCAA single-season mark of 10 shared by Canisius (5-5-10), Pacific (7-3-10), and Indiana State (2-6-10) -- all coming in 2022 when the NCAA first eliminated overtime for regular season matches
• Sacramento State's scoreless draw against Idaho in last season's Big Sky Championship match was the team's fourth of the year, standing just two shy of the NCAA record of six set by Indiana in 2022
STATE OF THE HORNETS
• When Sacramento State takes the field in 2025, those in the green and gold will represent six different states
• Of the 28 student-athletes on this year's roster, 17 of those hail from California, five from the state of Hawaii (Dalen Lau, Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia, Jaety Mandaquit, Candace Ching, and Payton Inabata), two from the state of Colorado (Elyse McGinnis and Ella Wilcox), two from the state of Washington (Sierra Sonko and Shawna Larson), one from the state of Illinois (Cynthia Waller), and one from Idaho (Isabella Vinsonhaler)
• Sonko and Larson are the first Hornets from the "Evergreen State" since Caitlin Prothe in 2018
• Wilcox and McGinnis are the first Colorado natives since Courtney Gorham finished in 2005
• Waller is the first-ever Hornet to hail from the state of Illinois
