The No. 3 Texas A&M soccer team heads to Tallahassee, Fla., Friday to take on the defending national champions, Florida State.
The Aggies (4-0) sit atop the SEC with Auburn, and are coming off of a 2-0 win over Florida Atlantic.
No. 5 Florida State is coming off a 3-2 defeat to in-state rivals Florida, which dropped them from first to fifth in the rankings.
The Seminoles (3-1) are led by defender and midfielder Kirsten Crowley, who has scored two goals this season in addition to registering an assist. She was named ACC player of the week after leading the team to a 3-0 start.
The Aggies head into enemy territory leading nearly every statistical category in the SEC. A&M is first in goals, goals per game, shots and points. A&M has outscored opponents 9-0 in the last three games and hasn’t conceded a goal since the season opener.
Freshman Emily Bates, who scored the first goal against Florida Atlantic, spoke confidently about the Aggies chances against the Seminoles.
“I think we’re playing as well as we can four weeks into the season, so I’m excited to see what we can do against them,” Bates said. “It’s definitely nerve wracking going into the national champions house, but I mean Florida beat them, so I don’t see why we can’t.”
The Aggies are led by sophomores Haley Pounds and Mikaela Harvey. Pounds leads the SEC in assists and assists per game. The forward has scored twice this season. Harvey enters the game on a hot streak after she was named to the TDS National Team of the Week. Harvey has scored three goals over the course of the last three games.
A&M head coach G Guerrieri ranks fifth all-time as a coach in victories and winning percentage. He has helped the Aggies start 4-0 for the second year in a row, which is the Aggies fourth best start in program history. He spoke about A&M’s chances to head to Tallahassee, Fla.
“We’re going to have to be at our best, Florida State lost to Florida, so you know they’ll have a heightened sense of [urgency],” Guerrieri said. “It’s like Gators poked them so now we’re going to have to walk into that snake pit.”
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Friday at the Seminole Soccer Complex.
