The No. 7 Texas A&M soccer team heads to Orange Beach, Alabama for the SEC Tournament starting Tuesday at noon where the Aggies open play as the 2-seed against 10-seed Missouri who knocked off the 7-seed Alabama 3-1 on Sunday.
A&M ended conference play on a 10-game winning streak after knocking off Mississippi State on Thursday to finish second in the league, being edged out by No. 2 South Carolina by one point to win the SEC.
The Aggies (14-2-1) and Tigers (8-11-1) met once already this year in Missouri where the A&M routed Missouri 5-1 on Sept. 24. Sophomore Ally Watt, senior Mikaela Harvey and sophomore Cienna Arrieta all scored once, while senior Haley Pounds scored twice to give the Aggies the blowout win.
“Everyone on this team feels like they can win any tournament they go into,” head coach Guerrieri said. “The SEC tournament has always been a great experience for our players, Orange Beach is an awesome place to play the tournament so it’s a really cool experience for the players to keep their focus on it.”
Missouri lost seven of their last nine SEC games to finish 10th in the SEC. The Tigers are led by sophomore Sarah Luebbert, senior Jessica Johnson, and sophomore Madison Lewis. Luebbert leads the team in goals and assists, having seven of each, while Johnson has scored five goals on the year and assisted four others, and Lewis has scored five goals on the year, while assisting two others.
The Aggies have not lost since Sept. 15 when they dropped a 1-0 decision to Auburn. A&M is led by Watt and Arrieta. Watt leads the team in goals with seven and also has two assists, while Arrieta has scored three times, while assisting four others.
“We are in a completely different situation than what we were in last year,” Guerrieri said. “Last year we were sweating it out and waiting to see how the SEC tournament was going to affect our case for getting into the NCAA Tournament. This year, we feel a lot better about our case and we’re going to try and win another SEC title.”
If the Aggies win, they will play the winner of No. 3 Florida and No. 6 Auburn on Thursday. If they lose, A&M will have to go home and wait to see where they’re playing for the NCAA Tournament.