With a new coach and many new players, the Sacramento State women’s team is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season.

Head coach Kristina Weber is beginning her first year with Sac State. Weber said she feels the talent is there and now the Hornets just need to demonstrate their talent on game day.

“We have a very good, young group of girls. They have a lot of potential,” Weber said. “They have laid good foundation of friendships with each other and I think they can carry that onto the field and be successful.”

Sac State should have three freshmen in its starting lineup. One of those freshmen is fullback Kayla Miles.

Miles said the squad has a tight family bond.

“The older girls have helped us out a lot and the chemistry we have is really important,” Miles said.

Weber agreed with Miles.

“The biggest strength the girls have is that they are friends off of the field,” Weber said. “They care for each other and they want to see each other succeed.”

Junior prop Kaileigh Bible is the president of Sac State Rugby and said even though the Hornets are young, the team’s ultimate goal is the same as it is every season – to make the playoffs.

“We’ve made the playoffs every year in the past and we want to keep up the tradition,” Bible said. “We have made the playoffs every year for at least the last nine years.”

Bible said she does not think Sac State’s inexperience is necessarily a bad thing.

“We’re little but we’re fast and I think that will help us wear out the other teams,” Bible said. “We have a lot of youth so if something goes bad we can bounce back from it quickly.”

Junior flanker Daisy Galvan said this season is definitely going to be a learning experience for the Hornets.

“We are going against a lot of Division I teams who have a long history of competition, such as Stanford, Cal and Chico State,” Galvan said. “A lot of the girls are enthusiastic about the season and we’re just ready to go out there to have fun and learn at this point.”

UC Davis backs captain Ahjia Moore said experienced or not, Sac State has a reputation of being a tough team to play.

“Sac State is good year after year because of their aggression and continuous fight on the pitch,” Moore said. “Although UC Davis has come out with the win in these last several years against Sac State, it has always been a tough fight because of the aggressive effort that the Hornets put out on the pitch.”

The Hornets host the Aggies on Feb. 5.

Moore said the Hornets are physical and quick.

“Although we haven’t seen Sac State compete since our match during a pre-season tournament, I recall their squad having some very strong forwards who love to take the ball into contact with a vengeance,” Moore said. “In these past few years Sac State has had a talented scrum-half and fast wings, so that is also something to look out for.”

Sac State’s other big match-ups this season include a match at Stanford on Feb. 8, a home match versus Cal on Feb. 19 and a home game againstUC Santa Cruz on March 5.

Weber said she feels the entire schedule is going to be a challenge.

“There are a lot of really great teams in our league who have won national championships,” Weber said. “Santa Cruz has always been a big rivalry for Sac State, and UC Davis is tough because they are our cross-town rivals.”

Weber said the team’s main objective this season is to learn more about rugby. Winning is second.

“Our goals are to first have fun and learn rugby so that they can carry that on and allow other people to be interested in the sport because rugby is a small community,” Weber said. “Having these girls learn it, love it and understand it will only help the understanding of it.”

Weber said she hopes the rugby program can use this season as a building block for the years to come.

“A lot of girls that were here in the years before have graduated but our third year players have definitely stepped up and helped the younger ones learn what it means to be a Sac State rugby player,” Weber said.

Miles said that veterans like Bible and Christina Powers have been a lot of help to the younger girls.

“Christina is the captain and she is tiny. We all say, “If she can do it then we can do it.’ She always keeps a positive attitude,” Miles said. “When we have a question Kaileigh doesn’t get mad or anything. She just answers the question. They are easy to talk to and they help us out a lot.”

Bible said she likes being a mentor for her teammates.

“I am really comfortable with being the team’s leader. This is my third year and I’ll have a lot of fun teaching our less-experienced girls about the game,” Bible said.

Galvan said the Hornets needs to keep excelling and use the season as a tool for next season. She also said she does have some personal goals she hopes to achieve.

“I want to get a really good tackle &- just one of those tackles that everyone just gasps at,” Galvan said. “Overall, I want to learn more about the game and become an overall better player.”

Andrew Hazard can be reached at [email protected]