STOCKTON, Calif. – HCU women's soccer begins its 2024 campaign under first-year head coach
Nick Whiting in the Golden State this Thursday with a matchup against the Pacific Tigers before heading north to take on Sacramento State on Saturday.
HCU returns 17 letterwinners from a 2023 team that finished 7-11 overall and 4-6 in Southland Conference play before advancing to the SLC tournament semifinals thanks to an upset win over No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Commerce in the first round.
Alexa Huerta,
Olivia Rossman and
Emily Jaimes all earned preseason all-conference honors in voting by the league's head coaches.
Huerta and Rossman scored nine goals combined last season with Huerta, a junior, finishing the season with a team-leading 13 points (five goals, three assists) and sophomore Rossman adding nine points (four goals, one assist). They were each second team all-SLC selections for the 2023 season. Jaimes, meanwhile, has tallied five goals and four assists over the last two seasons for the Huskies.
Pacific comes into the season-opener coming off a 9-9-1, 3-5 in the WCC, campaign last season and was picked to finish eighth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll. Junior midfielder Alexis Pashales is the Tigers' top returning scorer from last season, ending her sophomore year with seven goals and three assists.
Sacramento State, meanwhile, went 4-9-5 overall in 2023 with a 2-3-3 mark in Big Sky play. Senior midfielder Abigail Lopez returns after leading the Hornets with four goals last season. Sacramento State was picked to finish fifth in the league's preseason coaches' poll.
Thursday and Saturday's games will mark the first-ever meetings with both opponents for the Huskies.
HCU will remain on the road the following week with matchups in Huntsville, Texas against Sam Houston on Friday, Aug. 23, before heading to Baton Rouge, La. to face Southern on Sunday, Aug. 25.
