DAVIS, Calif. — The 2026 UC Davis women's soccer team (1-0-0) will host Causeway rival Sacramento State (1-0-0) in its home opener at Aggie Soccer Field this Sunday, August 16. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. The match will be the first UC Davis event streamed live on MW+ and live stats will also be available via Stat Broadcast.

"We are really looking forward to showcasing this year's team to our home fans for the first time on Sunday," second-year UC Davis head coach Kat Martz said about a 2026 squad that features 13 newcomers, including six first-year transfers. "We've worked hard to be ready."

UC Davis opened the season on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory at Fresno State, while Sacramento State was a 5-2 winner at home against Pacific.

Single-game tickets for all UC Davis home games including are $10 for Youth (3-13 years old) and $13 for general admission. Flexbooks - packs of 10 tickets redeemable in any combination - are $85. Discounted group tickets are available for groups of 10 or more. For additional information or to purchase tickets, visit ucdavisaggies.evenue.net/, contact the Aggie Ticket Office at (530) 752-2471 or email aggietickets@ucdavis.edu.

Event parking will be honored in Lot 25 and the Pavilion Parking Structure for all home games through Sept. 11. The cost for weekday games is $5.50, while weekends are free but both require parking permits. There is construction work in the area and fans should follow posted signage around the Pavilion Parking Structure, Lot 25 and Aggie Soccer Field to enter the venue.

NOTES
UC DAVIS VS. SACRAMENTO STATE - AUGUST 16, 2026

• UC Davis leads the all-time series against Sacramento State, 17-5-4. The Aggies have a three-match win streak and are unbeaten (6-0-1) over their last seven meetings with the Hornets, winning each season since 2018 other than 2020 when there was no match played between the schools due to COVID and a 1-1 tie at Sacramento State in 2022.
• UC Davis scored two second-half goals to secure a 2-0 win at Sacramento State in their most recent meeting on Sept. 18, 2025. Lakelee Perkins put the Aggies on the board with her first career goal at the 50:37 mark and Genavieve Fontes added an insurance tally on an assist by Sarah Canavan with 81:37 on the clock. Cat Pieper made two saves and recorded her third shutout of the 2025 campaign.
• The Aggies were also a 2-0 winner the last time the teams met in Davis for a match that also served as the season opener for both squads on Aug. 15, 2024.
• The last Sacramento State victory in the series was a 1-0 win in Davis on Sept. 11, 2017.
• The first-ever meeting between the teams was a 4-3 Aggie home win in Davis on Sept. 15, 1994.

• Cal extended its unbeaten string in season openers to seven with a 2-0 win at Fresno State. The Aggies were last defeated in a season opener on Aug. 17, 2018, when UC Davis suffered a 5-0 home loss to a No. 1 Stanford team.
• Jaycee DeFazio and Ashley Brewer, both first-year transfers from Cal Poly, accounted for Cal's first goal of the match when DeFazio rebounded Brewer's shot off the post and placed it into the back of the net. Brewer was credited with an assist on the play.
• UC Davis' second goal came on a corner kick when Payton Henry came out of a pile with the ball and fed KIley Fehrenbacher for a goal. It was Fehrenbacher's first career goal and Henry's first assist in her first collegiate match.
• First-year Purdue transfer Dina Frenkel played all 90 minutes in goal and recorded a shutout in her first collegiate action. Frankel spent two seasons with the Boilermakers in 2004 and 2025 but did not play in any games.
• The victory improved UC Davis to 5-3-1 in nine all-time meetings with Fresno State.
• The August 12 date was the earliest in the calendar year the Aggies have ever opened a campaign and the first day of the 2026 season for collegiate women's soccer across the nation. 

2026 SEASON

• UC Davis is looking to extend its string of home openers without a loss to four with the Aggies 2-0-1 in their first home game of a campaign since a loss to Pacific on Aug. 25, 2023.
• Mertz is in her second season at the helm of the Aggies' in 2026 and 20th campaign as a head coach with previous stops at UNLV (2005-09), St. Louis (2012), Oregon (2013-19) and MSU Denver (2020-24) before taking over at UC Davis in 2025. She has also been an assistant coach at Virginia (1999), UCLA (2000-04) and Texas (2010-11). In addition, she has held various roles with the U.S. Women's National Team and Olympic Development Program.
• The 28-player roster is a nearly equal mix of returnees (15) and newcomers (13), including six first-year transfers in F Ashley Brewer (Cal Poly), F Jaycee DeFazio (Cal Poly), D Sydnie Fong (San Diego/Nevada), GK Dina Frenkel (Purdue), M Stella Villalta (Santa Clara) and GK Piper Wilkison (Butler).
• Six returnees (M Sydney Bushman, M Ashleigh Garcia, D Kiley Fehrenbacher, F Lisette Gregoris, GK Cat Pieper, M Karla Sandoval) from a year ago played in all 19 contests in 2025.
• The team's 15 returnees combined to play in 341 games and make 147 starts a year ago 
• The team captains are M Savannah Cordero, Garcia and and D Livi Lewis 
• The starters in the season opener at Fresno State were GK Dena Frenkel, F Lakelee Perkins, D Livi Lewis, M Payton Henry, F Jaycee DeFazio, M Savannah Cordero, M Stella Villalta, F Ashley Brewer, D Kiley Fehrenbacher, D Courtney Wagner and D Sydnie Fong. Frenkel, Lewis, Henry and Fehrenbacher each played 90 minutes.
• Seven others played in the season opener off the bench (D Summer Humphreys, M Sydney Bushman, F McKayla Farrell, F Chloe Keating, F Presley Henry, F Lisette Gregoris and M Karla Sandoval.
• UC Davis has changed conferences and is playing as a member of the Mountain West for the first season after most recently being part of the Big West in 2025.
• Three Aggies (F Ashley Brewer, Cordero, D Courtney Wagner) were named to the preseason Mountain West Women's Soccer Watch list.
• UC Davis was selected to finish eighth in the Mountain West in the league's preseason poll.
• Aggie assistant coaches Emilee Tominovich and Abbie Faingold return for a second season.
• UC Davis has added Travis Clarke to its coaching staff as an assistant coach. Clarke has 14 seasons of experience as a collegiate head coach at Hawai'i-Hilo (2006-08), Cal State San Bernardino (2009-13) and Saint Mary's (2014-19).

POSITION PREVIEWS
FORWARDS (7)
The Aggies scored the fewest goals in the Big West last year and head coach Kat Mertz has done something about trying to improve that stat by bringing in five newcomers led by Cal Poly transfers Ashley Brewer and Jaycee DeFazio. Brewer contributed a goal and an assist while playing in 19 of 22 games off the bench as a 2025 freshman at Cal Poly for a team that finished 10-3-9 overall, won the Big West Tournament title and reached the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 1 seed Stanford. As a prep at San Luis Obispo High School, she scored 76 career points on 59 goals and 17 assists while her squads won three All-Mountain League titles. DeFazio spent two seasons at Cal Poly (2023-24) and also has extensive playing experience internationally in Thailand and the Philippines. Freshmen Presley Henry and Chloe Keating were both highly decorated as preps with Henry a three-time first-team All-Section choice and Keating a West Alameda County Player of the Year. McKayla Farrell, Lisette Gregoris and Lakelee Perkins are the team's three returnees. Gregoris had a pair of goals last season, while Perkins picked up one.

"All of our newcomers have made an immediate impact for us," Mertz said. "We obviously need to score more goals than we did last year and they are going to help us do that. They play with joy and are dangerous threats. Our returnees have also been working extremely hard to improve and make significant contributions this season."

• Ashley Brewer (R-So., San Luis Obispo, Calif./San Luis Obispo HS/Cal Poly)
• Jaycee DeFazio (R-So., El Dorado Hills, Calif./St. Francis HS/Cal Poly)
• McKayla Farrell (R-Jr., Chino Hills, Calif./Western Christian HS)
• Lisette Gregoris (R-Jr., Patterson, Calif./Patterson HS/Arizona State)
• Presley Henry (Fr., Canyon Lake, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS)
• Chloe Keating (Fr., Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd HS)
• Lakelee Perkins (R-So., Rocklin, Calif./Whitney HS)

MIDFIELDERS (9)
The Aggies' midfield features six players who started games for the team in 2025, including the only one to start all 19 in Sydney Bushman, who contributed a pair goals for four points while putting up 20 shots and eight shots on goal. Other returning midfielders who started games in 2025 include Savannah Cordero (8 GP, 5 GS), Ashleigh Garcia (19 GP, 16 GS), Charlotte Henness (18 GP, 7 GS), Karla Sandoval (19 GP, 5 GS) and Viet-Thy Tran (17 GP, 5 GS). Freshmen Bella Fernandez, Payton Henry and Kaya Herndon are the team's three newcomers. All three were highly-decorated as preps with Fernandez picking up both Vine Valley Athletic League MVP and Napa County Player of the Year honors during her career, while Henry was a two-time first-team all-league choice and Herndon the Pioneer League Player of the Year.

"We are excited to return so many players in our midfield," Mertz said. "When you have that type of experience at one position and then add talented newcomers to the mix it should be a good group."

• Sydney Bushman (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS)
• Savannah Cordero (Sr., Tracy, Calif./Tracy HS)
• Bella Fernandez (Fr., Napa, Calif./Justin Siena HS)
• Charlotte Henness (R-Sr., Henderson, Nev./Nevada State HS)
• Payton Henry (Fr., Canyon Lake, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS)
• Kaya Herndon (Fr., Torrance, Calif./Torrance HS)
• Ashleigh Garcia (R-Sr., Tracy, Calif./Tracy HS)
• Karia Sandoval (R-Sr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos HS/Loyola Marymount)
• Viet-Thy Tran (Sr., Santa Clara, Calif./Wilcox HS)

DEFENDERS (9)
UC Davis returns four veteran defenders with significant starting experience from a year ago in Kiley Fehrenbacher, Summer Humphreys, Livi Lewis and Courtney Wagner. Fehrenbacher played in and started all 19 games, while Humphreys, Lewis and Wanger played in a combined 47 contests with 38 starts (Humphreys 18/13, Lewis 15/11, Wagner 14/14). The team's other returnee is Ava Peterson, who saw limited action a year ago by participating in seven games all off the bench. The newcomers include transfers Sydnie Fong (Nevada/San Diego) and Stella Villata (Santa Clara), as well as true freshmen Loralei Heldreth and Samantha Murdin.

"We have a lot of proven talent and experience in our backfield heading into this season," Mertz said. "Our returnees have played a lot of soccer for UC Davis, while we also have a couple of interesting transfers who will compete for playing time now and two freshmen that should be a big part of what we do in the future."

• Kiley Fehrenbacher (R-So., San Diego, Calif./Point Loma HS/Oregon)
• Sydnie Fong (R-Sr., Novato, Calif./San Marin HS/San Diego/Nevada)
• Loralei Heldreth (Fr., Barstow, Calif./Excelsior Charter)
• Summer Humphreys (R-Jr., Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS)
• Livi Lewis (R-Sr., Carlsbad, Calif/Carlsbad HS)
• Samantha Murdin (Fr., Lafayette, Calif./Acalanes HS)
• Ava Peterson (So., Las Vegas, Nev./Palos Verde HS)
• Stella Villalta (R-So., Woodside, Calif./The American International School in England/Santa Clara)
• Courtney Wagner (R-Jr., Rocklin, Calif./Whitney HS)

GOALKEEPERS (3)
Fifth-year senior Cat Pieper returned to the Aggies and collegiate soccer in 2025 after a two-year absence while studying at Marquette, starting all 19 games while posting a 1.18 goals against average and a .780 save percentage. In 2026, Mertz has brought in a pair of transfers to challenge Pieper for the job in Dina Frenkel (Purdue) and Piper Wilkison (Butler).

"We have a great group of hungry goalkeepers," Mertz said. "They are all going to make each other better."

• Dina Frenkel (R-Fr., San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep/Purdue)
• Cat Pieper (R-Sr., Random Lake, Wis./Random Lake HS)
• Piper Wllkison (R-So., Newport Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Butler)

ABOUT UC DAVIS ATHLETICS 
UC Davis, ranked No. 2 among public universities by the Wall Street Journal in the value of a college degree, is home to 40,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 employees. Ranked top in the United States in agriculture and forestry as well as No. 1 in veterinary medicine, UC Davis is located in a true California college town nestled between world-class destinations such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe. Over 650 Aggie student-athletes compete in 25 Division I varsity sports, with 16 sports transitioning to the Mountain West Conference beginning in 2026–27. 

For more information, visit https://ucdavisaggies.com/.