It took only one year in Southeastern Conference for the Texas A&M women’s soccer team to earn the bull’s eye.
It’s not that the SEC coaches didn’t expect coach G Guerrieri’s Aggies and coach Bryan Blitz’s University of Missouri Tigers from competing last season in their first year in the league after leaving the Big 12 Conference.
That’s just what Texas A&M and Missouri did, winning 10 and eight games, respectively, in the SEC’s regular season to earn spots in the top half of the league for the postseason tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. Both teams also advanced to the NCAA tournament. Missouri lost to the University of Illinois on penalty kicks in the first round, while Texas A&M lost to Florida State 4-0 in the third round in Tallahassee, Fla.
This year, the league coaches expect the same from both teams. In fact, Texas A&M is picked to do a little bit more.
SEC coaches selected the Aggies to win the SEC’s Western Division, which they did last season, and to win the league title[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]. Texas A&M earned eight championship votes, while defending regular-season and tournament champion University of Florida received six.
Missouri was picked to finish fourth in the Eastern Division. Its 56 points were the eighth most in the 14-team league.
Having the bull’s eye on his team’s back is nothing new for Guerrieri, whose teams were a perennial favorite in the Big 12. Now, though, he is eager to build on a successful first year in a new league and to push his squad even higher.
“Our girls work hard to try to earn that bull’s eye,” Guerrieri said. “Now we have to prove we deserve it. I am proud of the reputation our players have created, and I am excited about the challenges it will pose.”
Texas A&M went 19-5-1 and advanced to its 18th-consecutive NCAA tournament thanks to a potent mix of offense and defense. The Aggies were second in the league in goals (48 in 25 games). They also allowed only 16. Their total came in three more games than the University of Tennessee.
The attack figures to receive a boost from the return of forward Kelley Monogue, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and the Big 12 Rookie of the Year in 2011. Monogue is back after recovering from a leg injury last season.
Factor in the return of seven starters and four All-SEC picks — first-teamers Jordan Day (goalkeeper), Meghan Streight (midfielder), and Annie Kunz (forward) and second-teamer Shea Groom (forward) and Guerrieri has plenty of reasons to be optimistic his team can make its 12th Sweet Sixteen appearance and has the potential to go deeper into the tournament.
“Winning the SEC West in our first year was a really nice accomplishment, and believe me it was a lot of fun,” Guerrieri said.
“But now we can look back at those experiences and say we wish we would have done this or tried that. That was a great first experience, and we can learn from those and go forward. There are still a lot of uncharted waters we’re going to try to navigate.”
Missouri returns 15 letterwinners and eight starters from a team that went 14-7-1 last season. The Tigers earned their fifth NCAA tournament appearance in 2012 and recorded the second-most victories in a season in program history.
Alyssa Diggs and Dominique Richardson return after being first-team All-SEC picks last year. Candace Johnson was named to the All-Freshman Team.
For Guerrieri, whose team is #12 in the NSCAA preseason rankings (behind only Florida, #9, in the rest of the league), a non-conference schedule that features Duke University, Arizona State University, the University of San Diego, and Baylor University, among others, will test a squad that has high aspirations, even if it has to carry a bull’s eye on its back all season.
“The accomplishments we had last year were solid, and there were a lot of things we really could be proud of,” Guerrieri said. “But the question was could we have done more? Was it in us to do more? We have a pretty competitive group of players who unanimously said yes, we could have done better here or there.
“I think this year the SEC is going to be very strong, which is going to help the top teams in the league,” Guerrieri said. “If (the top teams) do well and take care of their business they will earn a pretty high seed in the NCAAs. … Hopefully we will put ourselves in position to play at home in the NCAA tournament as long as possible.”
It’s not that the SEC coaches didn’t expect coach G Guerrieri’s Aggies and coach Bryan Blitz’s University of Missouri Tigers from competing last season in their first year in the league after leaving the Big 12 Conference.
That’s just what Texas A&M and Missouri did, winning 10 and eight games, respectively, in the SEC’s regular season to earn spots in the top half of the league for the postseason tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. Both teams also advanced to the NCAA tournament. Missouri lost to the University of Illinois on penalty kicks in the first round, while Texas A&M lost to Florida State 4-0 in the third round in Tallahassee, Fla.
This year, the league coaches expect the same from both teams. In fact, Texas A&M is picked to do a little bit more.
SEC coaches selected the Aggies to win the SEC’s Western Division, which they did last season, and to win the league title[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]. Texas A&M earned eight championship votes, while defending regular-season and tournament champion University of Florida received six.
Missouri was picked to finish fourth in the Eastern Division. Its 56 points were the eighth most in the 14-team league.
Having the bull’s eye on his team’s back is nothing new for Guerrieri, whose teams were a perennial favorite in the Big 12. Now, though, he is eager to build on a successful first year in a new league and to push his squad even higher.
“Our girls work hard to try to earn that bull’s eye,” Guerrieri said. “Now we have to prove we deserve it. I am proud of the reputation our players have created, and I am excited about the challenges it will pose.”
Texas A&M went 19-5-1 and advanced to its 18th-consecutive NCAA tournament thanks to a potent mix of offense and defense. The Aggies were second in the league in goals (48 in 25 games). They also allowed only 16. Their total came in three more games than the University of Tennessee.
The attack figures to receive a boost from the return of forward Kelley Monogue, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and the Big 12 Rookie of the Year in 2011. Monogue is back after recovering from a leg injury last season.
Factor in the return of seven starters and four All-SEC picks — first-teamers Jordan Day (goalkeeper), Meghan Streight (midfielder), and Annie Kunz (forward) and second-teamer Shea Groom (forward) and Guerrieri has plenty of reasons to be optimistic his team can make its 12th Sweet Sixteen appearance and has the potential to go deeper into the tournament.
“Winning the SEC West in our first year was a really nice accomplishment, and believe me it was a lot of fun,” Guerrieri said.
“But now we can look back at those experiences and say we wish we would have done this or tried that. That was a great first experience, and we can learn from those and go forward. There are still a lot of uncharted waters we’re going to try to navigate.”
Missouri returns 15 letterwinners and eight starters from a team that went 14-7-1 last season. The Tigers earned their fifth NCAA tournament appearance in 2012 and recorded the second-most victories in a season in program history.
Alyssa Diggs and Dominique Richardson return after being first-team All-SEC picks last year. Candace Johnson was named to the All-Freshman Team.
For Guerrieri, whose team is #12 in the NSCAA preseason rankings (behind only Florida, #9, in the rest of the league), a non-conference schedule that features Duke University, Arizona State University, the University of San Diego, and Baylor University, among others, will test a squad that has high aspirations, even if it has to carry a bull’s eye on its back all season.
“The accomplishments we had last year were solid, and there were a lot of things we really could be proud of,” Guerrieri said. “But the question was could we have done more? Was it in us to do more? We have a pretty competitive group of players who unanimously said yes, we could have done better here or there.
“I think this year the SEC is going to be very strong, which is going to help the top teams in the league,” Guerrieri said. “If (the top teams) do well and take care of their business they will earn a pretty high seed in the NCAAs. … Hopefully we will put ourselves in position to play at home in the NCAA tournament as long as possible.”
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