The Texas A&M soccer team travels to the home of the 2014 SEC tournament, South Beach, Ala., 5 p.m. Wednesday to challenge the Georgia Bulldogs yet again.
No. 7 A&M (15-2-2, 9-1-1 SEC) clinched the regular season SEC championship title in its last matchup of the season with a 2-1 victory over Georgia.
The Bulldogs (10-6-2, 5-1-1 SEC) escaped what would have been their fourth straight loss Monday against Arkansas in a penalty shootout. The match kicked off the first round of SEC postseason tournament play, and ended in a 1-1 draw.
A&M has a 4-1 all-time record in the SEC tournament. Now in his 22^nd season with the Aggies, head coach G Guerrieri is confident in his team in part due to their long tradition of success.
“They are excited,” Guerrieri said. “But, this roster of players is accustomed to winning championships; it’s what this program has done for a long time. We’ve won 15 conference titles in the past 17 years, and that record of success is part of the draw of great players to Texas A&M.”
The Bulldogs fell behind quickly to the Aggies in their match last Thursday. Goals from seniors Allie Bailey and Shea Groom sealed the win for A&M despite Georgia threatening with a late goal.
“Our focus is similar to last week when we were trying to win the regular season title,” Guerrieri said. “We were good at spreading out the UGA defense and attacking them and hopefully we will create some good mismatches in this match.”
While A&M ran the table in the 2013 on its way to the SEC championship, the Bulldogs suffered a 4-0 loss to South Carolina in the second round. Georgia will look to spoil A&M’s chance to be the first team to win back-to-back regular and post season SEC titles since Florida in 2001.
“We have to come to Alabama to win this tournament and bring another SEC trophy back to Aggieland,” Guerrieri said.
The winner of Wednesday’s contest will advance to the semifinal against either Missouri or South Carolina. The semifinal match is scheduled to take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday.