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DII West Coast Insight

  • 09 Jan 2019
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UN Reno’s Rachel Aldax / Photo: Jackie Finlan

Fresno State has led the DII West Coast conference the previous few years, but head coach Barry Foley indicated that the Bulldogs graduated 14 players from last season team, which finished in the top four of DII spring colleges.

“But I wouldn’t count us out,” cautioned Foley, who also serves as the West Coast conference commissioner. “We … had a good recruiting class with some quick backs and a handful of experienced returners, so I think we will do O.K., but probably not competing for the championship.”

Foley pointed to UN Reno as the team to beat. The Wolfpack finished runner-up the previous two years and retained some good talent for the 2019 season.

“St. Mary’s is putting up big numbers on the scoreboard in their first two games. USF is doing surprisingly well and appears to have one player [outside center FiaauLagi Tautolo] scoring most of their points, so she must be very good,” Foley pointed to the fellow 2-0 teams in the league.

Foley indicated that San Jose State, CSU Monterey Bay and UC Santa Cruz all have good numbers and just need to build experience. Numbers have always been an issue for Santa Clara, but with 25 rostered, that’s a considered a boon.

“Sacramento State had a strange series of concussions and injuries in one game,” Foley explained, “and their school actually stopped them from practicing and playing games until they could investigate why so many injuries. They lost some players because of this and may struggle to compete, but I have confidence in [coaches] Kristina Weber and Naima [Reddick] to keep them competitive.”

League resumes this weekend with Santa Clara vs. UC Santa Cruz.

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