With SF State's fall sports season officially under way, it's time to look at some of the most intriguing and anticipated match-ups of the season that will be played on campus.
Seeing as football went the way of the dinosaur here on campus some time ago, SF State sports fans must dig a little deeper for their sports fix than those spoiled kids at Stanford and UC Berkeley.
Here's some help finding those diamonds in the rough:
Men's Basketball
12/4/2009 vs. CSU Chico
Though their season doesn't officially start until October, the team with the most to prove will probably be the most interesting to watch. Though the gators got off to an 8-1 start last season, they tapered off towards the end, turning a promising season into a disappointing one. The Gators take on the Wildcats in their home opener, a division foe who finished 8-19 last season. The men's basketball team will look to continue their dominance over their rivals from the north and start their season off the way they did last year.
Women's Basketball
12/5/2009 vs. Cal State Stanislaus
In early season division match-up, the women's basketball team takes on Cal State Stanislaus, a team that finished tied 8-12 in the standings with the Gators. Along with improving on their record from last year against a similarly-talented opponent, the game will serve as a measuring stick of how much they've improved from last season.
Volleyball
11/6/2009 vs. UC San Diego
Taking on the 8-0 and currently first-place Tritons may seem like a tall task, but the Gators have passed most of their tests up to this point, sporting a 5-1 record of their own. SF State will host the visiting powerhouse towards the latter half of the season, meaning this game will most likely have both regular and post-season implications. If the Gators were able to defeat nationally-ranked UC San Diego (currently ranked seventh), it would not only provide a huge ego boost, but a chance to showcase to the nation how far SF State's volleyball program has come.
Men's Soccer
10/9/2009 vs. Cal Poly Pomona
After a tough four-game road trip, the Gators will return to the comfortable confines of SF State against Cal Poly Pomona, a team that struggled last year with a 4-11-3 record, but has started off the season 2-0. The game against the Broncos may prove to be the home cooking the Gators are looking for after a tough road trip in the middle of their season. The men's soccer team has started out 3-1 and looks to improve on their 8-10-2 record from the 2008 season.
Women's Soccer
9/18
After winning their home opener against UC Santa Cruz, the women's soccer team will look to continue their winning ways at home against CSU Dominguez Hills. The Toros, who finished with a record of 14-10 last season, were one of the Gators' closest division foes in 2008.
Players to Keep Your Eye on:
Nefi Perdomo, Freshman Guard, Men's Basketball
Perdomo joins the Gators after an outstanding career at Skyline High School in Oakland, where he averaged 16.2 ppg on 62 percent shooting from field, while also shooting 73 percent from the stripe. The 6'2" guard looks to provide some extra shooting touch from the outside, where the Gators sometimes struggled from late in the season last year. Perdomo was also named to the all-Oakland Athletic league while playing at Skyline and head coach Bill Treseler expects the freshman to see time at the point and shooting guard positions.
Courtney Stephens, Junior, Cross Country
Cross country Head Coach Tom Lyons was able to greatly improve his roster with the signing of Stephens. The junior college transfer placed 24th in the California JC Cross Country Championships last year with a time of 19:00 at the 5K Woodland Park course in Fresno. The finish from the El Camino College transfer catapulted her towards the top tier of junior college runners in the state, something SF State's cross country team would love to see continue with her new team. Stephens will look to prove that she can compete with better runners at the University level and that her time spent at El Camino College was no fluke.
