Dec. 20, 2013
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's lacrosse team will host six games at Aztec Lacrosse Field, one at Cathedral Catholic High School and will play against five teams that made last season's NCAA Tournament, as head coach Kylee White announced her team's 2014 schedule.
The Aztecs will take on five teams ranked in either the IWLCA Coaches Poll or deBeer Women's Media Poll, including No. 14/16 Stanford, No. 15/12 Navy, No. 16/15 Denver, No. 18/14 Princeton and No. --/20 Boston College.
"I'm excited to announce our 2014 schedule, and eager to start our third season," SDSU head coach Kylee White said. "The MPSF is very strong and highly competitive, and I believe having the opportunity to play strong out-of-conference games early on will prepare us for our conference opponents.
"We are really pleased with how the fall season went, as we've improved a lot on the defensive end, with our shooting and with our speed, which is something we are now becoming known for. This will be our first year having upperclassmen, and I expect to see a lot more confidence in our play, maturity and decision making compared to our first two seasons."
San Diego State begins its third season in program history with four games away from home. The Aztecs' season officially kicks off against second-year program Winthrop (S.C.) on Feb. 14, before taking on Davidson (N.C.) Feb. 16. SDSU returns to action for a pair of road games on the west coast two weeks later, as it takes on Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) foes California on Feb. 28, and St. Mary's on March 2.
San Diego State follows with a stretch of four-consecutive home games in San Diego, starting with its home opener at Aztec Lacrosse Field against Boston College on Saturday, March 8, at 7 p.m. PT. SDSU then plays host to Long Island on March 12, before facing MPSF rival UC Davis at home on March 16. The Aztecs conclude the homestand against Princeton, in a game that will be played at Cathedral Catholic High School on March 22.
"Playing Princeton at Cathedral catholic High School is a great opportunity for us to showcase our team and our sport in San Diego's North County, while giving the lacrosse community a chance to see one of the most storied lacrosse programs in the nation compete," White said.
Following its showdown against Princeton, SDSU has five-straight games away from home, starting with a conference game at USC on March 26. The Aztecs head to the east coast for spring break with road games against James Madison on March 29 and Navy on April 2, before traveling to the Rocky Mountains a week later to resume MPSF action against Denver on April 11, and new conference addition Colorado on April 13.
SDSU concludes the regular season with three-straight MPSF home games at Aztec Lacrosse Field, beginning with defending conference champion Stanford on April 18, Oregon on April 20 and Fresno State on April 23.
The 2014 MPSF tournament will be hosted by Denver University at Peter Barton Stadium in Denver, Colo., May 1-4. For the first time in league history, the conference tournament will consist of the top six teams in the regular-season standings. The top two seeds will each receive quarterfinal byes, while No. 4 will face No. 5, and No. 3 takes on No. 6 on May 1. The semifinals take place on Friday, May 2, and the championship game is set for Sunday, May 4. The winner of the tournament will receive the MPSF's automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA championship.
"The expansion of our conference tournament is really exciting and necessary for our thriving conference," White said. "With ten highly-competitive teams, it just makes sense to add the fifth and sixth slots. Each conference game will be a battle, and our goal is to control what we can control, and put ourselves in the best position possible to be in the top six."
San Diego State finished 8-8 overall in the 2013 season and fifth in the MPSF standings, in only its second season in program history. In the process, SDSU set new program records for most wins in a season (8), most conference victories (3), most home victories (4) and most road victories (3).
The Aztecs also set new single-game records for goals scored (21), assists (12), caused turnovers (17), draw controls (21) and largest margin of victory (21 points). In addition, juniors Bailey Ewing (Reisterstown, Md.), Madison Wallace (Chantilly, Va.) and Christina Ricciardulli (Poway, Calif.) each earned all-conference honors.
Furthermore, SDSU added nine freshmen to its 2014 roster, which includes five players from the east coast, two from Northern California, one from Utah and one from San Diego County.