The Big Sky Conference, which is the conference Sacramento State is bound to for most of its athletic programs, will be getting a slight advantage this year for women’s soccer due to an adjustment to the end of the season tournament.

There will now be 11 teams in the league with the University of Idaho returning to the conference, which was effective July 1. With their addition, the tournament format for the Big Sky will feature six teams for the first time.

The Hornets will be playing five games at home and will compete on the road for five games to conclude their league portion, which starts on Sept. 26 against Southern Utah.

According to the Big Sky coaches’ poll, the women are projected to finish seventh, which is just one position shy of where they left off in 2013. Sac State finished tied for sixth place with a 3-5-1 conference record.

With seven returning starters and 14 letterwinners rejoining the squad, the women this year are determined to focus on getting back into the NCAA tournament and to further develop their already strong chemistry.

“I think we’re a lot stronger and we have more depth this year,” said sophomore midfielder Jennifer Lum. “We still have a lot to improve on but I think we have a good chance this year.”

Lum has started off this campaign with a couple of good looks on offense, where she has netted one goal in four matches thus far. The second team all-conference selection has had five strikes on goal with a .200 shooting percentage.

“I feel really confident with our lineup,” Lum said. “We just have to win and score.”

In their season opener the Hornets were downed by rival UC Davis 1-0, but the result did not reflect the women’s performance. They were able to battle back in their next contest against the University of the Pacific when Lum had a late game heroic goal to give Sac State the 1-0 win in double overtime.

In her evaluation of her teammates this season, Lum thinks they are playing more cohesively as a group by connecting on passes and speeding up the tempo of play.

“I think we’re a lot stronger in the air this year,” Lum said. “We just need to play a full 90 minutes.”

Another positive outlook for the Hornets this season is the return of goalkeeper Kimberly Mata. The senior was an all-Big Sky honorable mention last year, where she ranked second amongst keepers with 5.62 saves per game and was third with 90 total saves.

After four competitions this season, Mata has collected 18 saves and has allowed only three goals to crossover into the Hornet net. Their record is not perfect so she is recognizing there are still improvements to be made with the newer players.

“I think the longer they’re in, the longer they’re going to get the idea of what kind of formation we’re playing and the flow of the game all together,” Mata said. “I think that will also help with time, so we’re more cohesive also.”

Some of the their possession issues have come from the midfielders losing the ball in the attacking third of the field. This is something that head women’s soccer coach Randy Dedini has noticed in the past, most specifically in their home opener against the Aggies.

“We didn’t take care of the ball,” Dedini said. “We were forcing balls into the middle which were getting picked off.”

Freshmen Chelsea Arnold earned a starting spot in all four matches and Kylee Smith appeared in four, earning a starting role in three of the contests. Smith has tallied a total of two shots. Dedini has been pleased with their performance this season on both sides of the ball.

“Kylee Smith, a freshman, she looked really good on top and Chelsea Arnold who played in the back looked good strong.” Dedini said after their game against UC Davis.

The Hornets have posted an overall record of 2-2-0 and this weekend they will return home to start a two game homestand against the University of Nevada-Reno, Friday Sept. 5 at 2:30 p.m.