New coach just hired 3 months ago? 7 freshman 3 seniors? Not a lot of time to create team chemistry; but hey, woman’s soccer not doing that well either although they are very young as well.
- Women's soccer is definitely young, and they had a grueling out-of-conference schedule. But they are now 2-0 in Big West play after beating Cal Poly 2-1 this afternoon. Hopefully they can keep it up.
Sorry to be blunt, but the field hockey program is just not very good. Looking back at previous years it seems like 8 or 9 wins a year was about as good as it got.
One reason could be recruiting. While there are a lot fewer colleges that have field hockey it's also a smaller talent pool. They have to travel that much just to find opponents. Your big sports (football, basketball, soccer, etc.) are represented at most high schools, but not field hockey. Prospective players probably have to pay to play for private clubs, which adds a similar kind of exclusivity to golf.
I'll check my yearbook, but I don't think even with a campus of 2,000+ that we had lacrosse or field hockey teams. With a lot fewer teams the talent pool is much smaller.
I also believe that it's a sport UCD just doesn't support, like baseball. It was a program created to balance out student athletes lost the last time the university cut sports, like wrestling and rowing. Granted, the program did get some big money for a new field, but They didn't really have one, so that may just have been a ploy to make it look like the program was more than a placeholder. Technically couldn't they just have played at Toomey Field ? That was good enough for the lacrosse team.
For me, it's kind of like, how many run down a field and put something in a goal sports am I supposed to care about ?
and those well established schools are recruiting from areas where there is a strong field hockey system in the high schools. california isn't a real hot bed for field hockey.
two weeks back we stayed at the hyatt after the UND game. the Ohio State field hockey team was there (they played Stanford and us that weekend, both in Davis). That's got to take some cash to stay there for several nights! several parents i talked to had alot of good things to say about the Aggie team, despite their record. they played OSU even.
I hate to disparage any sport.....but why field hockey on the West Coast? While wrestling went down because of Title IX, one of the reasons always thrown out in support of getting rid of wrestling was that it just is not a West Coast sport. Wrestling on the West Coast is like water polo in the midwest.
Yet we have a field hockey team. One of only four in California. Stanford has its unlimited bankroll. UOP struggles. We eke by. Even Cal had problems a couple of seasons ago when they had no home field and played all of their games on the road.
I have said it before; the closest college field hockey teams east of Stockton, CA, are in Iowa and Missouri. Nothing in between.
I would have thought it would have been better to keep crew and not add field hockey. I assume there are money issues in maintaining and transporting shells, etc..
Having said that, congratulations to the women who don the gold and Yale blue and play for the Ags. Good luck! Go Ags!
PS: Just waiting for the civil rights movement and proponents of the ADA to challenge field hockey. It blatantly and without and sign of remorse discriminates against left handers.
So if Field Hockey now has its own field, what were the other sport markers at Aggie Stadium on Sat from? I've been out of the loop. I went to a game in their inaugural season at Aggie stadium and I have heard of their new place nearby. But, who else plays at Aggie Stadium?
Maybe a nonissue, but their field is right next to the dairy barn area and when the wind shifts. . . Well you get the picture. I heard that the dairy was moving. Any idea when?
I also read Rec Pool will be redone into 2 pools... I hope they don't screw it up like the MU, MU entryway, large pipes in front of ARC, new seats at Pavilion, etc.
And the team still only has 1 win- and a playoff date. Huh ?
Not to be a dirty old man, but the women's field hockey program seems to very good at recruiting good- looking student athletes. I saw the team photo on the ucdavisaggies.com.
Finish the season 1-16, 0-6 in the Western Division of the America East Confernce, but they make the conference tourney. ??? There are four teams in the Western Division and five in the Eastern Division. Vermont finished last in the east and is out of the tourney, even though they finished with better record than the Aggies. Canadian Football League has a rule called the crossover. If the fourth place team in one division has a better record than the third place team in the other, that fourth place team goes to the CFL playoffs and the third place in the other division team goes home. Ags will travel across country to play Albany which tied for first in the east.
Due to title IX issues UC Davis must add a woman’s sport in 2018. And per UCD release it must be primarily privately funded. Very complex process in place to decide on what sport will be added due to a judicial settlement a few years back- yes women’s wrestling rears it pretty head again. But it wont be women’s wrestling this time. About the only teams we don’t field at this time are rowing and beach volleyball. Of course, we could be like Stanford and have squash, fencing etc. we probably still have the shells for rowing, but its a very expensive sport. Would the parents be willing to kick in enough to get it off the ground? If not its beach volleyball. Ugg!