Since UC Davis athletic director Kevin Blue arrived on the scene in 2016, his team has guided the school on one hot run.
In 2017, the Aggie's Men's Basketball program made their first NCAA Tournament appearance, securing Davis' first March Madness win before falling to college basketball juggernaut Kansas Jayhawks.
In 2018, UC Davis football was crowned Big Sky champions, were ranking 8th in the country and made the quarter-finals of the FCS Playoffs.
After finishing 15-1 in conference play and taking the Big West Conference Championship, the 2018/2019 Women's Basketball Team made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. The Aggie's battled valiantly but fell to number two seed Stanford on the national stage.
The 2019 Men's Soccer program took home the Big West regular season and conference championship, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade. Davis finished the season ranked 18th in the country.
UC Davis Athletics have also seen success in their Men's Water Polo, Women's Indoor Track and Field and Women's Outdoor Track and Field who all earned NCAA Tournament spots.
For a school with such high academic standards, Davis has found a way to make their mark on the national sports scene without compromising the principles which have guided the department since its inception. In today's sports arena, that's a feat of its own.
Yet for all the recent success UC Davis Athletics have found, one sport seems to be oddly left off the list.
With a plethora of talent in Northern California and our community, women's soccer has never crashed onto the national scene.
After a 22 year stint at UC Davis, Maryclaire Robinson retired. During her tenure the Aggie's moved to NCAA Division I from NCAA Division II.
Robinson was followed by Twila Kaufman who after five years, landed a job with women's professional side Houston Dash.
Now the program is in the hands of Tracy Hamm, one of the most talked about coaches in all of college soccer.
After a standout collegiate and professional career, Tracy was denied a coaching education path from the USSF that would allow her to pursue her passion at a higher level.
Such an unjustifiable decision would have sank most coaches, particularity female coaches who find coaching opportunities hard to come by, but not Tracy.
The current Aggie coach turned a career altering judgement into one of the best stories in US soccer history. Determined not to be denied, Hamm took frequent trips to Europe and became one of the few American women to ever earn a prestigious UEFA A license.
Her story was so inspirational it was documented and featured at Film Festivals.
Entering her second year in Fall 2020, Tracy will look to use the same mindset on the pitch and recruiting trail to help UC Davis reach new heights while inspiring our local female players to reach for more not just on the field, but in life.
To do our part in the community, FC Davis will be engaging local fans to attend games and become a part of the Aggie women's program.
To provide opportunities for UC Davis players, FC Davis WPSL will look to include the NCAA maximum of five student-athletes to our roster every summer.
Over the next seven days, Aggie week will give our community members a glimpse into the current UC Davis women's soccer coaches, players and the local student-athletes currently competing for the Aggie's program.