Welcome to the Nutmeg State, Aggies.
After a pair of 2-0 victories over TCU and Louisiana Tech at Ellis Field last week, Texas A&M soccer is hitting the road for a pair of games in Connecticut. The Aggies will face Central Connecticut State in New Britain on Thursday evening before visiting UConn in Storrs at noon on Sunday.
“A big part of what we schedule is about trying to find teams that are traditional winners,” coach G Guerrieri said. “We want to play teams that are going to typically be at the top of their leagues. And Central Connecticut is traditionally one of those teams … That’s a team that isn’t going to be on any other SEC schedule.”
The Blue Devils are a Northeast Conference dynasty, making the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six years. But the streak may not continue this season: Central Connecticut is a dreadful 0-5-1 and has only scored a single goal this season, while being scored on nine times.
Combine that with A&M’s strong defensive performance lately — the Aggies are the only team in the country to have three different goalkeepers record shutout wins: freshman Sydney Fuller, freshman Maysen Veronda and graduate Grace McClellan, with Fuller and McClellan earning clean sheets in the Aggies’ last two matches. There may be a recipe for a blowout in store.
But games aren’t played on paper — as A&M well knows after its 3-2 loss to Denver — and having an SEC team visit New Britain is certainly a special occasion.
Both the Blue Devils and Huskies play on artificial turf pitches instead of natural grass, so practice has looked a bit different for the Aggies this week. The Maroon and White have been practicing on turf at Penberthy Rec Sports Complex, Guerrieri said.
“We haven’t played on artificial turf since we were in the Big 12,” Guerrieri said. “And it’s something I’ve intentionally not played on because I don’t like to roll the dice and play on it because of the potential of injuries. These have artificial fill in both of these surfaces.”
After facing Central Connecticut, the Aggies head to one of the most historic venues in college soccer for a matchup against UConn at Morrone Stadium. The Huskies are on a four-game win streak of their own and are 4-1-1 this season.
“UConn is one of those teams that is also a perennial NCAA Tournament team,” Guerrieri said. “[UConn] is a team that’s been to Final Fours, has been to national championship games [and] is always up there. Playing at Joe Morrone Stadium is also a cool setting.”
While the Huskies are on a hot streak — outscoring opponents 11-5 so far this season — they fell 2-1 to Wisconsin in their only game against power conference opposition so far.
In that contest, junior forward Chioma Okafor, UConn’s leading goalscorer, was only able to muster two shots. Compare that to the Huskies’ last game — a 3-1 victory over Rhode Island — where the Malawi native was able to double her season goal total with a brace on seven shots.
Okafor is one of just a pair of Huskies with multiple goals this season, and the only one with more than two goals.
Meanwhile, five Aggies have found the back of the net multiple times this season, led by junior midfielder Sydney Becerra with three goals. The versatility of the Aggies’ offense — and the opposite being true for the Huskies — may be the deciding factor against UConn.
Coming off back-to-back shutout victories, Guerrieri says A&M hopes to build off the win streak as they head into SEC play after this road trip.
“One of the themes of the win on Sunday night was to get on a roll,” Guerrieri said. “Let’s see if we can start that one. You’ve got to start with the first win, and then start stacking those wins together. And you can stack those wins together without the performances.”
Guerrieri credits the Aggies’ win against TCU to their intensity and said it’ll be an important factor again against the Blue Devils.
“Going to their place and trying to play at our speed will be really important to us,” Guerrieri said. “That’ll be a consistent theme as we start to stack performances together. That process of putting things together will hopefully put together the process of the results that we want.”
