After either a week off or an exhibition-only slate in Week 1, Alabama State and Dartmouth will commence their 2024 campaigns this week, with the trio of teams providing contrasting storylines for their Australian players.
Alabama State defeated NAIA program Mobile last week, but start their season proper with a far tougher test. The Hornets head on the road to the Peace Garden State to take on both North Dakota State and North Dakota. The two Summit League programs are each coming off five-win seasons in 2023, and both went undefeated in Week 1, although three of their four combined results were draws and the other was a win for North Dakota State over NAIA program Viterbo. Nonetheless, this should be a good test for Alabama State, and Australian upperclassmen Grace Norbury and Madison Chambers should both be heavily involved as the Hornets look to begin their charge back to usual programming after a 2023 season that they will want to put behind them.
Dartmouth played Canada’s University of Ottawa in an exhibition last week, but they too will start their official campaign this week as they host Marshall and Merrimack over the coming weekend. Dartmouth were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League this season, and a team of that calibre should be able to defeat a pair of teams that were each picked to finish towards the bottom of their respective conferences. However, that doesn’t mean they can take it easy as they look to build towards league play and a run at knocking off the likes of Brown, Princeton, and Harvard. Hopefully, these games provide an opportunity for sophomore Kate Ryan, who featured only once for 23 minutes last season and will no doubt be doing everything in her power to ensure there is more playing time to come this year.
Meanwhile, on the west coast, Holly Furphy started both games for Santa Clara in Week 1 and will hope to reprise that role as the Broncos have a couple of mouth-watering matchups on the schedule this week. The Broncos head south to firstly take on Long Beach State. Beach have had their position as the dominant force of the Big West usurped by UC Irvine in recent years, but have been picked to finish top of the conference this season and will provide the nationally ranked Santa Clara with a solid test, which will provide an ideal lead-in to what should be one of the games of the week on Sunday. The Broncos will take on UCLA, with both teams currently ranked in the top 15 nationally. The Bruins knocked off Long Beach State and UC Riverside in a pair of 3-0 wins this week, and for a pair of teams for whom a deep NCAA Tournament run is an absolute minimum expectation, this game will tell each of them just how ready they are at this early stage to make that a reality.
Meanwhile, there are also a couple of Aussie v Aussie matchups in which we will hopefully feature players seeing a little more playing time. Eloise Jones and Rider will host in-state foe Seton Hall, whose roster features Western Australian twins Grace and Sarah Mitchell. None of the trio of Aussies featured in Week 1, but hopefully Week 2 is a different story after Jones came off the bench to play 16 minutes for Rider against Delaware State in midweek.
Meanwhile, Chantelle Symes and Detroit Mercy head to the Bluegrass State for a two-game road trip, facing Kentucky before heading to Morehead State to take on Natasha Tanner and Lilly Bailey. All three players saw intermittent playing time last week for various reasons, but hopefully this Sunday we can see as much of each player as possible.
Full Schedule
Alabama State (Madison Chambers, Grace Norbury)
This week: @ North Dakota St. – 9:00am, Friday 23 August; @ North Dakota – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
Bellarmine (Teagan Douglas)
This week: v Asbury – 5:00am, Monday 26 August
Charleston Southern (Eve Tiktikakis)
This week: @ West Ga. – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
Coastal Carolina (Tahlia Voskanian)
This week: @ Auburn – 5:00am, Monday 26 August
Dartmouth (Kate Ryan)
This week: v Marshall – 7:00am, Saturday 24 August; v Merrimack – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
Denver (Isabella Chidiac)
This week: @ Lamar University – 10:00am, Monday 26 August
Detroit Mercy (Chantelle Symes)
This week: @ Kentucky – 9:30am, Friday 23 August; @ Morehead St. – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Fresno State (Shivani Battaglia)
This week: v Weber St. – 11:00am, Friday 23 August; @ UC Santa Barbara – 5:00am, Monday 26 August
Harvard (Erin Gordon)
This week: No games.
High Point (Meg Roden)
This week: @ Col. of Charleston – 8:00am, Friday 23 August
Incarnate Word (Montanna Mathews)
This week: @ Prairie View – 10:00am, Friday 23 August; @ Texas St. – 10:30am, Monday 26 August
Little Rock (Candice Kilderry)
This week: @ Arizona St. – 12:00pm, Friday 23 August; @ Grand Canyon – 12:00pm, Monday 26 August
Long Island (Isabella Stein)
This week: v Manhattan – 2:00am, Friday 23 August; @ Boston College – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Loyola Maryland (Ava Blizzard)
This week: v George Washington – 8:00am, Friday 23 August
Maine (Lara Kirkby, Grace Wilson)
This week: @ Rhode Island – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Massachusetts (Hannah Peric)
This week: @ Army West Point – 5:00am, Friday 23 August; v Rutgers – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Mississippi Valley State (Jacquelline Kambere)
This week: No games.
Morehead State (Lilly Bailey, Natasha Tanner)
This week: @ Eastern Ky. – 6:00am, Friday 23 August; v Detroit Mercy – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Northwestern State (Caitlin Le Roux)
This week: @ Arkansas – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
Old Dominion (Alice Thompson)
This week: @ William & Mary – 9:00am, Friday 23 August; v UNCW – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Oregon State (Katie Godden)
This week: No games.
Pacific (Libby Davy)
This week: v UC Davis – 6:00am, Monday 26 August
Purdue (Zoe Karipidis)
This week: v Loyola Chicago – 9:00am, Friday 23 August; v UIC – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
Rider (Eloise Jones)
This week: v Seton Hall – 7:00am, Monday 26 August
Saint Francis (Aimee Benton, Claire Scarpin)
This week: @ Youngstown St. – 8:00am, Friday 23 August
Saint Peter’s (Sophie Cook, Wilma Thodhlana)
This week: v USC Upstate – 5:00am, Friday 23 August; v Hampton – 2:00am, Monday 26 August
Santa Clara (Holly Furphy)
This week: @ Long Beach St. – 12:00pm, Friday 23 August; @ UCLA – 7:00am, Monday 26 August
Seton Hall (Grace Mitchell, Sarah Mitchell)
This week: v Lehigh – 9:00am, Friday 23 August; @ Rider – 7:00am, Monday 26 August
Siena (Iona Snape)
This week: @ Syracuse – 9:00am, Friday 23 August
Southern (Yazmin Baird-Watson)
This week: v Houston Christian – 8:00am, Monday 26 August
Stetson (Camila Madriz Figueroa)
This week: v Alabama A&M – 9:00am, Friday 23 August
Tarleton State (Adelaide Wyrzynski)
This week: v Austin – 10:00am, Friday 23 August; v Houston – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Molly Arens, Emma Bates)
This week: v Sam Houston – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
Towson (Courtney Butlion)
This week: v St. John’s (NY) – 8:00am, Friday 23 August; v George Washington – 8:00am, Monday 26 August
UAB (Abbey Burns)
This week: @ Samford – 9:00am, Friday 23 August
UMBC (Annaliese Grove)
This week: @ Bucknell – 9:00am, Friday 23 August; @ Iona – 5:00am, Monday 26 August
UNC Asheville (Jasmine Barry, Mercedes McNabb)
This week: @ Mercer – 4:00am, Monday 26 August
VCU (Greta Kraszula)
This week: @ Liberty – 7:00am, Friday 23 August; v NC State – 3:00am, Monday 26 August
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