Jan. 22, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
Saturday, Jan. 26 - SONOMA STATE, 10 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26 - FRESNO PACIFIC, 11:15 a.m.
Sunday, Jan. 27 - CALIFORNIA, Noon

LAST WEEK
Season-opening weekend.

NOTES
UC Davis went 25-7 in 2007, finishing No. 11 in final national poll... The win total was the highest by an Aggie team since 1999 (26-12) while the winning percentage (.781) set a school record... The Aggies return eight seniors who accounted for more than 3,400 minutes and scored 206 of the team's school-record 370 goals last year... Among the key seniors veterans: attacker Christi Raycraft, three-time All-WWPA selection, who scored 49 goals with 21 assists in 2007; defender Jessica Soza, two-time All-WWPA second-team pick, who scored 24 goals with 31 steals and 21 field blocks; and attacker Casie Mota, who led the team with 46 steals and finished 3rd on team with 38 goals... UC Davis graduated three seniors, including two-time All-American and Heitman Award winner Katherine O'Rourke, now an assistant coach... Another key loss is goalie Amber Korner, who started 31 of 32 games and registered 235 saves against just 161 goals last season.

Most notable among the Aggie newcomers are Rachel Smith, a redshirt freshman from Valley Center; and Dakotah Mohr, from nearby Davis Senior HS... Smith set numerous school career records at VCHS, including goals (304) and assists (166)... Mohr, the program's lone National Letter of Intent signee in 2006-07, earned back-to-back prep All-America honors for the Blue Devils... She also is a two-year veteran of the U.S. Youth National Team (2006 & 2007).

UC Davis will compete in its final year of the Western Water Polo Association, which owns an automatic-qualifying (AQ) berth to the National Collegiate Championship... The Aggies won the AQ in 2006 to earn their first trip to the NCAA tournament, but lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to Loyola Marymount in last season's WWPA title game... UC Davis will begin play in a six-team Big West Conference in 2009, which means the upcoming year is the last season that the Aggies can win an AQ until 2011.

UP NEXT: The Aggies open with a three-game home series... WWPA member Sonoma State and first-year program Fresno Pacific visit Schaal Aquatics Center in a Saturday tripleheader... California, which was chosen T3rd in the preseason Mountain Pacific Sports Federation coaches' poll, comes to town on Sunday... The Golden Bears went 12-11 overall and 6-6 in conference in 2007, finishing 8th in the final national poll... Sonoma State went 18-21 last year, placing 10th at the WWPA Championship.

HEAD COACH JAMEY WRIGHT:
"We're still in a learning mode. This weekend will have some easier games and one real test. We'll see both ends of the spectrum. Cal has seven or eight kids who played in the Top 40 tournament, which is a national developmental program. At least on paper, they're pretty impressive."

"I think we're going to know where we rate against top-level competition, and what we need to work on for the remainder of the season. We're not a program that needs to beat UCLA and Stanford to assure ourselves a No. 1 ranking. Not that we don't aspire to that, but our goal is to win the conference. So Cal is a great test for us."

"We have seniors who have played in conference championship games and who have played in some tight semifinal games. I think they are very motivated, focused and business-like. Players like Soza and Mota and Raycraft -- they know what's at stake. This is their last shot. But frankly, this may be the last shot for some of the younger players because we'll be sitting out of the automatic qualifier for two years. So if I'm a junior, I wouldn't be thinking, `there's always next year.'"