The San Diego State lacrosse team begins its inaugural season Saturday with a game against No. 18/20 Ohio State on the campus of Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. The Aztecs and Buckeyes are scheduled to play at noon PT.
SDSU, which announced its four captains on Tuesday, is coming off a 17-4 win over the San Diego Lacrosse Club in an exhibition game on Feb. 4.
San Diego State, which was picked seventh in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) poll released on Jan. 24, has 28 players on its first-ever squad, including one junior, three sophomores and 24 freshmen. Only two players – Katelyn Luker (Virginia Tech) and Meris Walsh (Maryland) – have Division I experience, while six – Lauren Maack (Coronado HS), Jackie Mills (La Costa Canyon HS), Brittany Parrish (Scripps Ranch HS), Christina Ricciardulli (Poway HS) and Sammy Slattery(Carlsbad HS) – are from San Diego County.
OSU, meanwhile, is coming off a 10-7 season last year, where it finished 14th of 91 teams in the final edition of the RPI. In the preseason polls, Ohio State is ranked 18th by IWLCA and 20th by the deBeer Media. The Buckeyes returns five starters, including attack Alayna Markwordt (52 goals, 27 assists), midfielders Gabby Capuzzi (30 goals, 7 assists, 51 draw controls) and Kirsten Donahue (21 goals, 40 ground balls, 20 caused turnovers), and defenders Olivia Cora and Tayler Kuzma (22 ground balls).
Saturday’s game will be the first of 15 for the Aztecs. The following Friday (Feb. 17), SDSU welcomes Cincinnati in the program’s first-ever home game, beginning at 7 p.m. PT. San Diego State will play seven consecutive matches at home from Feb. 17-March 20. Included in the schedule are MPSF games at home against UC Davis (Feb. 19), California (March 10), Oregon (March 18) and Fresno State (March 20), and road league contests at Denver (April 9), Saint Mary’s (April 13) and Stanford (April 15).
For: http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/020912aaa.html
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