2026 Schedules

[Kuiper]

Azusa Pacific

Azusa Pacific, which is transitioning from DII to DIII starting in the 2026-27 season, when it will be a member of the SCIAC, has released its schedule.  It really is a transition schedule, as it includes an exhibition game against one former DII opponent (Westmont) and a regular season game against another in October (Cal State San Marcos).  The team also plays four NAIA teams and two non-conference DIII games (Lewis & Clark and UC Santa Cruz).  The Lewis & Clark game should be interesting.  Could it be a competitive game?  Hartford, which started its transition from DI to DIII in 2023, lost a lot of players and went 4-8-2, losing badly against fellow CT schools like Conn College, Trinity, and Eastern Connecticut, but it went 0-14 in its last season of DI, so , it was starting at a low point.  Azusa Pacific, by contrast, went 5-8-4 in 2025 in DII, including 4-3-3 in conference, so I expect Lewis & Clark will have difficulty finding a win in this game, but it's not out of the question.  Azusa Pacific also plays 10 games against teams from the SCIAC, including Occidental twice and the other SCIAC teams once each.

Interestingly, Azusa Pacific doesn't list itself as playing an exhibition at Whitworth in pre-season, while Whitworth still lists it on their schedule.  That trip must have been cancelled.

[Kuiper]

Occidental

Very ambitious schedule for Oxy.  They open against Azusa Pacific, as we already knew, but then they play two out of state opponents.  The first is Gordon College (MA), which is kind of random, but the second is Trinity (TX) on 9/6.  Trinity has been hosting SCIAC and other Region X teams in San Antonio for years, but I haven't seen them do the return trip to any of them.  It looks like they are doing it in this case to play their former assistant coach Edward Cartee at CMS (which traveled to San Antonio to play Trinity last season) because the Oxy-Trinity game is listed as being at Claremont.  In any event, as if playing the DIII runners up wasn't a tough enough game, Oxy then travels the following weekend to Ohio to play at Kenyon on 9/11 and Denison on 9/13.  Talk about a challenging three game stretch, plus cross-country travel, over 7 days!

[Kuiper]

La Verne

Just like Oxy, La Verne has a schedule that is both random and ambitious.  They open the season at DII Westmont and then host George Fox (NWC) and Russell Sage (NY), which like Gordon (MA) is heading across the country to play SCIAC teams in what could be an attempt to recruit some California kids.  La Verne then travels to Texas to play Trinity and Southwestern before opening conference play at Occidental.  The team made it to the second round of the SCIAC tournament last season before falling to Oxy 4-1, so I'm sure they'll be looking for payback.

On a side note, Trinity certainly is filling its schedule with SCIAC teams this season with games already listed against Oxy, CMS (probably), and now La Verne.  Since the SAA has fewer teams than the SCAC and some of the weaker SCAC/ASC teams don't provide much competition, Trinity might have needed to travel more to get a decent strength-of-schedule.