Update: The Ags win 1-0 with a late goal by Celina Minissian, her first as an Aggie.

For those of you who may not be following UCD Athletics, the first major event of the season happens today, and that’s Women’s Soccer visiting rival Sac State in their annual Causeway Classic matchup.

This is important for several reasons. First, it gives us a taste of how one of Davis’s decent athletic teams will fare for the year, how one of UCD’s brand-new coaches will handle her first season, and how their twelve (twelve!) new faces will perform on the field. For UC Davis students who got hooked on the World Cup buzz, the two Aggie soccer teams are great and easy ways to keep up with the sport (and their games are a good place to get free gear). And it all starts tonight with one of the biggest matches of the season.

Second, this is the first match in the Causeway Cup, our annual all-sport contest with the Hornets. How it works: each matchup in each sport is assigned some sort of point value with a total of 100 points available across 17 sports. Going off last year’s point distributions, tonights matchw will be worth five points.

So even though the Causeway Cup is an abstract numbers game, it’s really, really important. The Cup is the highest expression of our rivalry and the closest thing we have to a school-wide goal when it comes to athletics. It’s also something UCD is relatively good at; we’ve won six out of ten Cups since the event was founded.

It also helps highlight the unsung teams of UC Davis who are quite good. While the points do favor spectator sports — 30 points go to football and basketball — victory depends on the athletics department as a whole. Teams like Tennis, Cross Country, Gymnastics, and, for that matter, Women’s Soccer can be keys to a Causeway victory.

So yeah, tonight’s game is a pretty big deal.

When and Where:
August 22nd at 5 PM at Sacramento State

Why you should care:
It’s a preview of a revamped Women’s Soccer squad and a chance to get a head start in the Causeway Cup.

Aggie Pack Giveaways:
Probably none; it’s summer and in Sacramento.

If you can’t make it to the game:
Follow live stats here. The in-game Twitter account might broadcast updates as well.

Talking Points:
-Women’s Soccer has a new coaching staff and tons of new players. This could be a big year, so the first few games are an interesting preview of what’s to come.
-The Causeway Cup is an annual competition between UC Davis and Sac State. Each individual sport doesn’t seem to bring many points but they can mount up fast, which makes tonight’s match all the more important.