An undefeated Texas A&M soccer squad takes its record of 4-0-0 to the Grand Canyon State as it competes against both Arizona and Arizona State in the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe.
Head coach G Guerrieri leads A&M on the first road trip of his 22nd season as head coach, facing the Wildcats at 8:30 p.m. Friday night before squaring off against the Sun Devils at 3 p.m. Saturday. Though early in the season, Guerrieri has coached his team to understand the weight every match carries.
“Every game is important,” Guerrieri said. “It is how we will appear to the NCAA when it comes time to seed for the tournament. Winning is the utmost priority. Finding a way to win is something we are looking to do in both of these games.”
The Wildcats (2-1-0) have had four different players score their four goals on the season, including a goal from Leeandra Smith in their most recent victory against Northern Arizona. Wildcat goalie Gabby Kaufman will have the task of reigning in an Aggie offense whose goal total for the year already stands at 12.
One player likely to challenge Kaufman on the pitch Friday night is Kelley Monogue. In her senior year, Monogue is setting an impressive pace, putting together a three-goal, two-assist campaign in a pair of victories against last week’s opponents, No. 18 UCF and Illinois State.
In total, Monoque was responsible for five of 19 shots that lit up the scoreboard. She has also added three assists — good for a team-high 13 total points — and was recently named National Player of the Week by TopDrawerSoccer.com and SEC Offensive Player of the Week
“Kelley’s success this year is in great degree due to what she did in the offseason,” said Guerrieri, who said he has been impressed with her health, her fitness and her overall ability to get closer to the goal.
Monogue has tallied 97 career points and is just the fifth Aggie in program history to score 40 goals in her career.
After a break from game action on Saturday, the Aggies are back at it again Sunday afternoon.
Arizona State leading goal scorer Aly Moon looks to improve on her four goals scored in the current 2-1-1 season, which includes a 5-2 victory over Hawaii. Cali Farquharson and McKenzie Berryhill have each chipped in two goals of their own thus far.
A&M senior Shea Groom, who had a breakout junior campaign that included 14 goals, has the opportunity to continue an impressive start to the season as she has scored a goal in each of Texas A&M’s four games.
“Right now I think our younger players can look at [Groom and Monogue] in particular and see the technical and tactical edge that they have and the spark they bring to the team,” Guerrieri said. “What is nice about this particular team is that they can draw from personal things that they have lived here at A&M … Being able to draw off a personal experience and to be able to let the younger players know what’s going on is something that has been really nice so far.”
The Aggies return home at 7 p.m. next Thursday in Ellis Field against Florida Gulf Coast.