Warrior Weekly: Former Fresno State soccer player finds a home at Stanislaus State
Stanislaus State senior Sadie Ortiz found a sense of family in Turlock.
After a standout soccer career at Buhach Colony High School in Atwater, she committed to play at Division I Fresno State. However, after one semester as a Bulldog, she sought a return home.
“There were many perks of the athletics at a D-1 school, but I found that Stanislaus (State) was a better fit for me,” said Ortiz, formerly Sadie Montague.
Ortiz, a forward, transferred to Stan State for her sophomore year and has been the team’s leader ever since. The Warriors (12-4) close out the regular season at home this week — Thursday against Cal State Monterey (7 p.m.) and Saturday against Cal State East Bay (2 p.m.) — before opening California Collegiate Athletic Association postseason play next week.
Ortiz spoke highly of Fresno State — with its priority registration and prestigious athletic facilities. She said the soccer was fast paced and intense — she played in 17 games — yet she found Stanislaus State to be more like home.
Since joining the Warriors’ program, she’s earned two All-CCAA honors and should earn her third all-conference nod this fall. As a sophomore, she was one of the top defenders in the CCAA, earning her honorable mention on the all-conference team.
As a junior, when she moved to forward, she became the team’s leading scorer with seven goals to earn an All-CCAA second team award. This season, she has six goals, including five game-winners (one last week against Chico State), and six assists.
In addition to offense, she also has found comfort with her teammates.
“Having a close relationship and being able to be yourself with your teammates is really important,” said Ortiz, who expects to graduate in the spring with a degree in kinesiology. “Here at Stanislaus, everyone gets along. We are all cool with each other and that is always really appealing to me.”
Coming home gave Ortiz a chance to reunite with old teammates.
“Since I grew up in a small town everyone knew each other and those involved in sports,” said Ortiz, “It was really cool to come here because I also played against and with people I knew through high school.”
Last year, she married Antonio Ortiz, Jr., who is also from Atwater.
“My family is my motivation,” said Ortiz, “Having a close relationship with your teammates is so important and Stanislaus State soccer is my second family.”
Men’s, women’s basketball: Both teams tip-off preseason tournaments this weekend. The men’s team is coming off two exhibition games against Division I programs — UCLA (87-57 loss) and the University of the Pacific (Tuesday night). The Warriors are taking on Notre Dame de Namur (Friday at 5:30 p.m.) and host Holy Names (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.) at the Spirit of the Sisters Conference Challenge in Oakland. The women’s team travels to Ellensburg, Wash., to face two tough Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponents at Central Washington on Friday at 4 p.m. The Warriors will challenge Northwest Nazarene Saturday at 2 p.m. Central Washington is picked to win the GNAC in the preseason coaches poll while NNU was picked to finish fourth.
Cross Country: The men and women are competing Saturday at the NCAA West Regional Championship in Monmouth, Ore. The women, ranked No. 8 in the West Region, will need a minor upset over some teams to snag an at-large berth to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Sacramento on Nov. 23. The top three teams from each regional plus 10 at-large teams overall will qualify for the NCAAs. On the men’s side, the Warriors are No. 7 in the West after coming in fifth at the CCAA Championships.
