This past weekend, we traveled to Fresno to play Fresno State of the Western Athletic Conference and the Sacramento Storm of the Women's Professional Soccer League in back to back games. Although it is called Spring Ball, it didn't really feel that way with the cold, wet, and windy conditions.

We started off the day playing Fresno State, who went 13-7-1 in the regular season, and lost in the WAC tournament final. We came away with a 5-2 win, and since we didn't get many goals in the regular season, getting 5 goals in a short 60 minute game helped our confidence. Also, we got goals in a variety of ways. We scored off of crosses, from distance, on counters, with combination play, and our pressure caused one goal off of a bad defensive turn over. Clearly, the player of the game was a red-shirt freshman named Jacqui Simon who had a natural hat trick scoring the team's last 3 goals. We also got a goal and assist from another freshman Jessie Edmonds.

30 minutes later, we were warming up again to play a fresh Sacramento Storm team who were playing their first game of the day. The Storm play in the WPSL, have many former college players, and two well known international players on their roster in Brandi Chastain and Sisi from Brazil. Brandi was the only one of the two to show up, but she was still a handful. Our sophomore goalkeeper Tammy Lenham was much busier in this game including one very good save, stuffing a one on one, and making a handful of saves. She played well enough to keep a clean sheet, and we won the game 2-0. Again, it was a young player who made the difference offensively, as we got both goals from freshmen Kailyn Kugler. Kailyn was our leading scorer this year in the regular season, and was selected as the Freshman of the Year in the Big West Conference balloting.

We hit the field next on Sunday March 9th, and we kick off at home in Harder Stadium at 11 AM. We play another WPSL team Ajax based out of Palos Verdes, Ca. Ajax is the 4th rated women's club team in the world, and also boasts a number of international players including US National teamers Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, and Lindsey Huey. Admittance is free, and we hope to see you out there.