After another tough 1-nil loss, the Aggies host The Beach at 1PM today. Kudos to Coach Kay Mertz, her staff, especially the players for continuing to grind and play with Aggie Pride through a difficult season.

Coming off a tough win over UCI on Saturday, Davis is in a first-place tie with Long Beach State.

Next up: UC San Diego (2-2 BW; 4-12 overall) comes to town in Thursday.

Go Ags!

The women's soccer team continues to play hard, but still have difficulty finding the back of the net, having recorded only 9 goals in 13 outings this season. Defensively, the backline and goalkeeping have been better than statistics indicate, but they're under constant game-long pressure. Until the midfield and frontline do batter at A) maintaining possession, and B) scoring, wins will be tough to come by.

Next up: UC San Diego at home on Thursday. The Tritons are having similar struggles, so hoping the Aggies can start righting the ship.

Hard fought 3 - 1 win over UCI. Last set really tense...1-2 points either way until Ags took control at 19-19. Good to win a tough one. Crowd was definitely into it. Fun to be there.

The head chef or coach hires the assistants. Building a quality staff is important, as you point out. So the buck still stops with the head guy. There is a learning curve in all of this for sure.

But Sac State leadership - Woods & Marion - have talked the talk since the beginning - i.e. "JV programs", etc. If you back it up, it ain't boast. So far they haven't.

• They didn't "hang 50 points" on South Dakota State. They lost. Soundly.

• They lost to Nevada (1-2; currently 10th in the MW)

• They beat Mercyhurst (1-4; currently 4th in Northeast Conference). Mercyhurst is in Y2 of a 3-year transition from D@ to D1. Mercyhurst hung around into the 4th quarter.

• They beat Central Arkansas (1-4; 7th in UAC)

• They lost to an apparently upwardly mobile Cal Poly program (3-2, 1-0 Big Sky).

Neither of their victories are "quality wins". There's still time to have a good year, but already NOT the season they boasted of. If they win out, thy might be able to chalk their losses up to the learning curve. But 1 more loss, and there's no chance they make the playoffs (IMHO). Especially since they have 4 very winnable games left on their schedule...if they lose one of those?

Another sweep! This one at home over Fullerton. UCI (1-2 BW, 6-9 overall) comes to town on Saturday.

Go Ags!

I agree that this is a step toward the Power 4 conferences becoming professional leagues. I read an article last year in which Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer bemoaned only being allowed 4 hours a day with his team. Sounds like he at least has dropped the "facade of education" in his own mind.

However some key quotes (at least from my reading) from the article make me wonder if they don't have a tiger by the tail:

Like most businesses, athletic departments can always use more money to cover ever-increasing costs.

Translation: The current enormous income streams aren't sufficient to sustain the business model. Inevitably, the athletic departments will become dependent on the cash infusions generated via the private equity arrangement.

The private capital company would get money back through the new entity through annual distribution in proportion to its financial stake.

Any private equity firm has a fiduciary duty to its investors and funds, based on the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 for funds holding plan assets. These duties require firms to act in the best interest of the fund and its investors.

That seems to run counter to: "...this setup eliminates the need to give an outside investor a specific portion of control over decisions or board seats..." Private equity firms can't just give away investor money, with no mechanism to protect that investment and the return on that investment. Anyone who thinks it's a no-strings flow of cash is fooling themselves. IMHO

Some interesting comments on the Cal Poly message board:

One indicated that Marion Brennan may have walked off the field without shaking hands with the Cal Poly coach.

Another comment was related to Sac's helmets having Brennan's own personal brand instead of the traditional Hornet logo.

Finally, there was a comment, with picture, of Brennan walking into the stadium with his "entourage."

Some interesting comments on the Cal Poly message board:

One indicated that Marion Brennan may have walked off the field without shaking hands with the Cal Poly coach.

Another comment was related to Sac's helmets having Brennan's own personal brand instead of the traditional hornet logo.

Finally, there was a comment, with picture of Brennan walking into the stadium with his "entourage."

Great start for Coach Dan Connors’ team! Next up: Fullerton at home on Thursday to begin a 4-match homestand.

Go Ags!!

Here's the most recent post:

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.