The No. 6 Texas A&M soccer team will head to Gainesville, Fla. Thursday to take on the No. 10 Florida Gators in a pivotal top- 10 matchup.
The matchup will be the Aggies’ first SEC game and could be Coach G Guerrieri’s 400th win at the program. Guerrieri’s record stands at 399-122-29 (.752), making him the sixth winningest women’s soccer coach in NCAA history.
“I think it would be awesome [to get his 400th win],” said A&M forward Haley Pounds. “Last year we lost to Florida in the SEC so this year we want to go out and beat them.”
In the previous outing between the two teams last October, the Gators got the better of the Aggies in a 1-0 victory at Ellis Field.
The Gators (4-1-0) are led by two-time All-American Savannah Jordan who has scored five goals in five games this season and leads the SEC in goals per game. The junior, who was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2013, performed well against Florida State last week, scoring the opening goal for the Gators in a 3-2 victory.
A&M (5-1-0) is led by a pair of sophomores, Pounds and Mikaela Harvey. Pounds is the leading scorer with five goals and Harvey is second on the team with four. Pounds also has four assists this season and is coming off her first career hat trick against Abilene Christian.
Coach G Guerrieri said the Aggies’ SEC opener is the team’s first real test.
“They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now and it’s well deserved confidence,” Guerrieri said. “For them to be able to knock off FSU in the fashion that they did at home sends a warning signal to everyone in the SEC and we just happen to be first up.”
Since A&M joined the SEC in 2012, both teams have been the most consistent with an identical winning percentage of .829 in SEC play. In the last three years, one of the two teams has been responsible for winning the league or the tournament.
Pounds said A&M shares a number of similarities with Florida.
“They play a lot like us — they like to possess the ball, they’re really dangerous in the attack, in transition and their defenders are really good,” Pounds said. “It’s going to be a hard match up against our forwards so it should be a really good game Thursday night.”
Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the match can be seen on the SEC Network.
