The Texas A&M soccer team looks to bounce back from its two-loss SEC road trip when they host Mississippi State at Ellis Field Friday.
The Aggies (9-3, 2-2 SEC) enter the match losing 2-1 against South Carolina on a last second goal last Thursday and 2-1 to Georgia Sunday.
“The last time the Texas A&M soccer team lost back-to-back games most of the current team was in the fifth grade,” head coach G Guerrieri said. “No one has experienced it who is on this roster and no one has read about it because it just hasn’t happened. So that’s something that they’re unfortunately learning the hard way. We want to make sure that this week we remember a little bit how that felt and we go out to right the wrong.”
A&M has an arsenal of goal scorers this season with forward Haley Pounds and midfielder Mikaela Harvey leading the pack with eight and four, respectively. Emily Bates has been sidelined the last three games after picking up an apparent knee injury on Sept. 18 against Vanderbilt. The freshman starting striker, who has scored three goals and assisted five times, has been missed by the Aggies.
Mississippi State (3-5-3, 1-1-2 SEC) is led by sophomore forward Mallory Eubanks. Eubanks was named to the 2014 SEC All-Freshman team and has scored two game-winning goals this season. Despite the Bulldogs conference record, they have only lost one SEC game and enter the match on a three-game winning streak.
Guerrieri the Bulldogs will present a challenge as they are a physical team.
“Mississippi State is a very physical team; they’re a team that puts a lot of effort into the game,” Guerrieri said. “They’re on a good hot streak right now. They’ll be coming in with a lot of confidence. They have some dangerous players that we’ll have to deal with but our emphasis this week is on our effort by all 11 players.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Ellis Field. The match can be seen on the SEC Network+.