Game Week Preview
San Diego State (8-5, 0-0 MPSF) at UC Davis (8-7, 1-0 MPSF)
Saturday, April 13 | 1 p.m. PT | Aggie Stadium | Davis, Calif.
Aztec Lacrosse Storylines
* San Diego State will square off against its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent of the season on Saturday when it returns to northern California to battle UC Davis, starting at 1 p.m. PT inside Aggie Stadium. In addition to live stats, a link to streaming video for the Aztecs-Aggies clash will be available on GoAztecs.com.
* In a the midst of a lengthy road swing, SDSU will be looking to put the brakes on a four-game losing streak after dropping an 18-9 decision at No. 18 Stanford on April 4. The Aztecs were limited to single-digit scoring for the second straight match, as the Cardinal broke open a tight game with a 6-0 run in the first half to seize control.
* Senior Harlowe Steele paced the Aztecs with five points on four goals and one assist while tying freshman Caitlin Jones for team-high honors with three draw controls. Jones and junior Taylor Sullivan also contributed two goals apiece, while senior Jenny Buckland and junior Marissa MacRae set career highs with four ground balls each, matching goalkeeper Katy Sharretts, who finished with six saves as well.
* Despite the setback, Steele garnered her second straight MPSF Offensive Rookie of the Week accolade and third of the year, while Jones was named Rookie of the Week for the third time this season. With their awards, SDSU has collected 10 weekly conference honors already this year. In addition, Sharretts received two certificates on defense (Feb 18 and March 11), while Sullivan (March 18) and senior Elizabeth Adams (April 1) merited the same distinction as well.
* The Aztecs are 4-4 against UC Davis all-time after the teams split a pair of meetings in San Diego last year. The Aggies spoiled SDSU's Senior Day during the regular season, employing a 7-0 second-half run to claim a 15-9 decision at Aztec Lacrosse Field. However, the Scarlet and Black more than made up for it at the MPSF Championships with a thrilling 11-10 overtime victory in the title game. Morgan Taylor, who scored the golden goal with 11 seconds elapsed in the extra session, was named the tournament MVP after the contest.
* San Diego State has won two straight at Aggie Stadium, including a 13-11 triumph in 2017, when the Aztecs clinched a spot in the MPSF tournament. Taylor Sullivan is the team's top returner from that contest, notching her first career hat trick to go with one assist.
* SDSU will be looking to jump-start its offense after averaging just 9.50 goals during its four-game slide. Following an 18-15 victory over LIU Brooklyn on March 16, the Aztecs rose to 10th in the country with an average of 15.56 goals per contest. Over its last four outings, however, San Diego State has been forced to play from behind, trailing by an aggregate halftime score of 41-14. Still, the Aztecs are 32nd nationally in scoring offense (13.69) and are on pace to surpass last year's squad, which set a program record with 256 goals.
* Thanks to her efforts at Stanford, Harlowe Steele has climbed into fourth place on SDSU's career list with 81 goals, eclipsing Vickie Porter (2014-17) and Michaela Jarvis (2012-14), who finished with 70 tallies apiece in a Scarlet and Black uniform. In addition, Sullivan has tied former goalkeeper Katrina Reeves (2014-17) for fifth place on the Aztecs' all-time charts with 45 caused turnovers for her career. Elsewhere, Katy Sharretts now ranks second in program history with 287 career saves, trailing only Reeves, who finished with 405 stops.
* As of April 11, SDSU finds itself among the Division I leaders in shots per game (13th, 33.77), shots on goal per game (13th, 25.46) and ground balls (16th, 21.46/gm). Entering the weekend, the Aztecs also rank 27th in draw controls with 14.31 per contest.
* Individually, Steele occupies the ninth spot nationally with 1.31 free position goals per game (17 overall), while Sullivan ranks 18th in that category (1.00, 13 overall). Additionally, Katy Sharretts tops the MPSF with a team-leading 32 ground balls (2.46/gm).
* For the season, Steele and Sullivan are tied for second in the MPSF with 30 goals. The duo needs just one tally apiece to become just the second tandem in program history to record at least 35 goals in a single campaign after Steele (38) and fellow classmate Jill Haight (37) accomplished the feat last year. At their current clip, Steele and Sullivan are still on target to give SDSU two 40-goal scorers in the same season for the first time ever.
* The balanced Aztec offense features five additional double-digit goal scorers in Jones (19), senior Kirstie Greenlaw (18), junior Morgan Taylor (16), sophomore Lexi Tan (11) and fellow classmate Bailey Brown (10).
* Not to be outdone, Steele has also racked up a team-high 39 draw controls this year, tying Felice Artuso for second place on the program's all-time list in that category with 131 draws won for her career. With her total, Steele enters the weekend ranked fourth in the MPSF in that statistic, while Grace McGinty (35) and Brown (30) are sixth and seventh, respectively.
* After her four-goal performance at Stanford, Steele has scored at least three goals in 15 different games during her career, including seven this season. In addition, the Aztec tri-captain has notched at least one tally in 21 of her last 22 starts dating back to last year, with the lone exception in that stretch occurring in the 2018 regular-season finale at Notre Dame.
* Last month, Sullivan tied a school record with seven ground balls at Ohio State on March 24, which marks the top performance in the MPSF this year. She also netted her sixth hat trick of the year against the Buckeyes after recording just one last season.
* Additionally, Marissa MacRae caused a career-high four turnovers vs. Central Michigan on March 5, tying three UC Davis players for the best mark in the league so far this year in that statistic.
* Sullivan's five-goal effort vs. USC on Feb. 22 marked the sixth time an Aztec player has recorded at least five tallies over the past two seasons and the second time this year after Kirstie Greenlaw accomplished the feat vs. Cal on Feb. 17. In the quarterfinals of the 2017 MPSF tournament, Ijeoma Ikpe tied a program record with seven goals vs. Oregon, while Alex Watson had five at Michigan earlier that year. Last season, Steele put up five scores vs. Arizona State, while Grace McGinty duplicated the total at Furman. With the exception of the USC clash, San Diego State emerged as the winner in the other five outings.
* The Aztecs once again signed a talented recruiting class for the 2019 season. Highlighting the group are four high school All-Americans, three all-CIF performers, seven all-conference selections, two all-county picks and five Player of the Year/Most Valuable Player award recipients. In addition, the class includes multiple players with a plethora of prep postseason and national tournament experience, while many have displayed their versatile talents in other sports as well.
* After 13 games, Caitlin Jones leads the stellar San Diego State rookie class with 19 goals, 14 draw controls and 10 ground balls, while Arielle Shahrabani has racked up six tallies, three ground balls and three caused turnovers. In addition, Courtney Robinson has four goals to her credit, along with nine draw controls, seven ground balls and a trio of caused turnovers.
* After a successful run at Aztec Lacrosse Field last season, the 2019 MPSF Championships will be contested on April 26 and 28 at Aggie Stadium in Davis, Calif. For the second year in a row, the MPSF tournament format will pit the second and third seeds in the semifinal game, with the winner advancing to the championship final against the No. 1 seed.
Up Next
- Following Saturday's action, San Diego State wraps up its six-game road trip on Wednesday, April 17, when it travels to the desert to battle Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. Opening draw is set for 3 p.m. MST/PDT. The Aztecs close out their regular season at home on Saturday, April 20 against MPSF foe Fresno State to highlight Senior Day festivities, beginning at 1 p.m.
Opponent Notebook
UC Davis
The Aggies (8-7, 1-0 MPSF) are coming off a 19-10 victory at Fresno State in their first conference matchup of the year on April 6. UC Davis exploded for 12 goals in the second period to break open at tight 7-6 game at intermission. Three Aggie players totaled five points in that contest, including senior Taylor Cuenin and junior Maddie Myers, who netted four goals and one assist each, while junior Amanda Outcalt finished with a hat trick of her own to go with a pair of helpers. For the season, Cuenin leads the MPSF with 44 goals, which ranks 25th in the country, while Outcalt tops the league in both assists (34) and points (61), occupying the eighth and 18th spots nationally in those respective categories. Not to be outdone, junior Kate Graham (75), Myers (60) and sophomore Mar Alvear (58) sit atop the MPSF in draw controls, while junior Addie Dearden leads the circuit with 18 caused turnovers. Goalkeeper Taylor Mathieson, who has started the last five games for UCD, is maintaining a .500 save percentage and a 10.79 goals against average for the season. The Aggie sophomore was named MPSF Defensive Player of the Week after making 10 saves and scooping up three ground balls at Fresno State. As a team, UCD is averaging 12.07 goals per contest against a 13.07 clip on defense. However, the Aggies top the MPSF with 232 draw controls, while its average of 15.47 in that statistic ranks 14th nationally. UCD is guided by second-year head coach Suzanne Isidor, who served in the same capacity at her alma mater Penn State from 2001-2010, where she led the Nittany Lions to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2001 and 2005.
Lacrosse Resumes Road Swing at UC Davis Saturday
