Oct 28, 2013 5 min read

Take a quick glance at the California University women’s basketball schedule and the opponent listed at the top, on the line for the first game, will quickly get your attention.

Notre Dame.

You might think that’s Notre Dame College, a school in Euclid, Ohio, that, like Cal, is a member of NCAA Division II.

Nope.

This is Notre Dame, as in South Bend, Ind., Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus, Fighting Irish and the Notre Dame Victory March. It’s the Notre Dame that played in the women’s Final Four each of the last three years and in the national championship twice in that span.

California, which has seven players back from the team that made a surprising run to the Division II Atlantic Regional final last March, will play at Notre Dame in an exhibition game Wednesday (7 p.m.).

Though it’s only an exhibition and won’t count on either team’s record, there are easier ways to begin a basketball season than playing a Division I national power. The Vulcans, however, don’t seem to mind.

“They’re excited. This is something they might never get to experience again,” California’s third-year head coach Jess Strom said. “Our kids will get to play on Notre Dame’s floor, and then they can watch Notre Dame play on television during the season and say ‘I played there. We played against a team that played for the national championship two years ago.'”

Each Division II team is permitted to play two exhibition games against Division I competition. Cal will play its other exhibition Sunday at Pitt.

So how did Cal schedule a game against Notre Dame?

“I know one of Notre Dame’s assistant coaches, Angie Potthoff, who played at Penn State,” said Strom, who also played at Penn State. “I ran into Angie at the Final Four last season and we started talking about the possibility of getting a game scheduled.”

In previous seasons, Cal played exhibitions against Division I programs such as Pitt, Duquesne, Penn State, Appalachian State and James Madison, but the Notre Dame game will be the Vulcans’ biggest challenge to date. It continues a trend among PSAC schools of scheduling exhibition games, in both men’s and women’s basketball, against opponents that are more than just mid-major programs. This year, the IUP men will play Michigan State. The Gannon women, who defeated Kent State and Buffalo last year, will play Connecticut. Last year, the IUP women played Connecticut.

“I’d say the top four teams in the PSAC want to play good teams in those exhibitions,” Strom said. “These D-I games are a lot about fundraising for us.”

Strom said the Notre Dame game won’t be as much about the final score as it will be about the Vulcans’ attitude and hustle.

“Playing Notre Dame will be about character and attitude,” Strom said. “This will be like our Penn State game last year, when we never quit. We surprised ourselves in that game. We didn’t back down. The kids were shocked at how hard they competed, and that attitude was something they took with them throughout the season. It gave them perspective on how good they could be.”

Strom doesn’t expect her team to get rattled playing at the Joyce Athletic & Convocation Center against a Notre Dame team that returns four starters from last year’s 35-2 club. That’s because Cal is an experienced group, returning seven of its top eight scorers from last season, when it went 22-9 and won two games in the NCAA tournament. Gone, however, is leading scorer and long-range shooter Stephanie Michael (14.2 points per game), the only player who averaged in double figures.

“Our roster is split. We have a lot of people back, but have eight new kids,” Strom said. “We have more new kids than old kids. The key will be how quickly those new kids jump on board with what we’re trying to do.

“We’ve only been practicing for 15 days. They’re working hard and beating each other up every day in practice. I can say they practice very hard.”

Senior forward Emma Mahady (9.4 ppg) is the leading scorer among the returning players, which also includes point guard Kate Seebohm, forwards Irina Kukolj, Elena Antonenko and Ashley Hines, and guards Chelsea McKnight and Ryah Gadson.

Strom has been impressed during practice by junior guard Kaitlyn Fratz, a transfer from Pitt-Johnstown. Fratz should make an immediate impact. Miki Glenn, a freshman guard from Bridgeport, W.Va., also has impressed.

There was one change, the result of budget cuts, to the original schedule released by Cal. The Vulcans will not play in a holiday tournament next month in Florida as planned. Instead, they will play Nov. 17 at Wayne State in Detroit. Like Cal, Wayne State was 22-9 last season and advanced to the Midwest Regional final.