Roadrunners Open Season With Sacramento State

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield women's soccer opens the non-conference portion of the regular-season with a road match against Sacramento State at Hornet Field, Saturday, with a start time slated a 2:00 p.m. The Roadrunners will have a chip on their shoulder after the 2021 Big West Pre-season Poll was released last week and predicted CSUB to finish eleventh in league.

Fourth-year head coach Sebastian Vecchio said, "We are looking forward to stepping onto the field and competing for real. This group has worked extremely hard, and they amaze me with their attitudes day in and day out."

Bakersfield earned a clean sheet over The Master's in an exhibition win over the Mustangs last Friday to close pre-season 1-0.

Freshman Flavia Burrell spent all 90 minutes of the exhibition contest in goal. The Roadrunners other freshman keeper, Haley Slouka, still awaits her debut.

CSUB defeated Sacramento State once in a 2-1 come-from-behind win on Sept. 24, 2010, in Seattle.

The Hornets posted a 3-4-4 record during a shortened 2020 campaign, 2-4-2 in Big Sky Conference matches, and are 0-1 to start 2021 after a 3-0 loss at Saint Mary's yesterday.

"Sacramento State is a very good team and playing them on the road will be an even tougher challenge," explained Vecchio. "We are looking to growth over the course of the game and see what things we need to fine tune moving forward."

The Roadrunners will return to the Main Soccer Field following Saturday afternoon's contest, with their season home opener set for Aug. 26 against Azusa Pacific.

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The `Runners received 12 total points in the Big West Preseason Coaches poll.

Long Beach State is the preseason favorite with 106 points and one first-place vote. Cal State Fullerton, winners of the 2019 Big West regular- and post-season championship titles, was picked second with 104 total points and two first-place votes.

UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara tied for the third spot with 94 points each. The Anteaters received four first-place votes, while the Gauchos received two.

2021 BIG WEST WOMEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES POLL

No. School Points (1^st Place Votes)

1.	Long Beach Beach	106 (1)
2.	Cal State Fullerton	104 (2)
3.	UC Irvine	94 (4)
	UC Santa Barbara	94 (2)
5.	CSUN	75
6.	Hawai'i	65
7.	Cal Poly	59 (1)
8.	UC Davis	51 (1)
9.	UC San Diego	34
10.	UC Riverside	32
11.	CSU Bakersfield	12

~GoRunners.com~

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Players Mentioned

#1 Flavia Burrell: GK; 5' 10"; Freshman

#27 Haley Slouka: GK; 5' 7"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#1 Flavia Burrell
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: GK

#27 Haley Slouka
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: GK

Players Mentioned

#1 Flavia Burrell

#27 Haley Slouka

Players Mentioned

#1 Flavia Burrell

#27 Haley Slouka