DAVIS, Calif. -- Taylour Mendoza, a midfielder who played the last two seasons for the Gaels at nearby Saint Mary's, has signed a grant-in-aid agreement to continue her academic and athletic career at UC Davis beginning with the 2022 season, Head Coach Tracy Hamm announced Friday.

Mendoza joins a previously announced class of eight high school standouts who inked National Letters of Intent with the Aggies in October.

"Taylour is a highly skilled player who will add depth for us in the midfield," Hamm said. "She has fantastic vision and elite distribution. We look forward to seeing the impact she will have on our program here at UC Davis."

A second-year freshman in 2021, Mendoza started 12 matches for Saint Mary's last fall, finishing with a pair of goals and two assists on 20 shot attempts, helping the Gaels to a 10-4-4 overall record. She scored the team's lone goal in a 1-1 draw with California, and added her second score of the season in a 2-0 win over CSU Bakersfield.

During the COVID-delayed 2020 season, Mendoza started all 11 matches for Saint Mary's in the spring of 2021, scoring her first career goal against San Diego on March 13 and assisting on another against No. 17 BYU on April 3. She finished second on the team with 19 shots, placing 10 of those on goal, and earned West Coast Conference All-Academic Team honorable mention honors as well as a pair of President's Scholar-Athlete awards.

Listed among the IMG Academy Top 150 recruits list while prepping at Clovis North HS for the 2019 class, the Fresno, Calif., native was also listed as a three-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer. An All-Tri-River Athletic Conference selection as a senior who helped lead the Broncos to a CIF regional finals appearance, Mendoza earned a call-up with the U15 U.S. National Team camp in 2015 and has played the last four years with the De Anza Force ECNL club in San Jose.

She has participated in NorCal PDP, was selected for iD2 National Camp, and has also been invited to compete against the U.S. U18 National Team with the Surf ECNL club.

UC Davis finished the 2021 campaign with a 10-8 overall record and a 5-5 mark in Big West Conference play, posting the program's first winning season -- and its first with 10-or-more wins -- since the Aggies wrapped up the 2015 campaign with a 10-7-2 overall record. Sophomores Leslie Fregoso and Risa Yamada were each named to the All-Big West first team -- the first UC Davis duo to do so since 2013 -- while newcomer Jayde Holley was a second-team selection and a member of the all-freshman team.
 

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