February 13, 2006
Texas A&M soccer players Ashlee Pistorius and Kati Jo Spisak are currently traveling with the Under-21 United States National Team on its tour of Great Britain. Pistorius and Spisak are two of 18 players representing America on this tour.
"This is such a great reward and experience for our players," said A&M head coach G Guerrieri. "This is the type of experience that you will remember for the rest of your life, and it's the kind of trip that can create more opportunities for them in the future."
The U-21 National Team is made up of the top American college players. The team arrived in London on Sunday and played an intra-squad scrimmage on Sunday, where Pistorius scored the only goal of the game.
On Wednesday, the U.S. U-21 team will play Scotland's U21 team in Edinbough before traveling back to London to play the English U21s on Friday.
As a freshman Pistorius was honored as the 2004 Big 12 Rookie of the Year. This season she started all 24 matches at the forward position and was selected first-team All-Big 12 and was named the Big 12 Tournament Offensive MVP. Pistorius led the conference in total points (56) and goals scored (22). She was named to the NSCAA All-Central Region first-team and was also a finalist for Soccer Buzz?â„¢s 2005 National Player of the Year.
Spisak has clocked over 8,500 minutes in goal, starting every match of her four-year Aggie playing career. In her tenure, KJ (Spisak) has accumulated a minuscule .967 goals against average, allowing only 92 goals to be scored in 96 games. She?â„¢s made 291 saves defending her way to 24 shutouts. She is the Aggie career record holder in most saves, most shutouts and most minutes in goal. Spisak is No. 2 in best goals against average.
"I'm very excited for these two players. The experience gained playing with our National Team will contribute to making them better players, which in turn helps to make our team even stronger in the future," commented Guerrieri.
Pistorius will be back in College Station when the Aggies open their spring exhibition game-schedule on Sat. Feb. 25th at home against the Challenge Soccer Club and the USA's Region III Olympic Development Team.
You can access more information about the Aggies?â„¢ spring schedule by logging on to AggieAthletics.com.
U-21 Game Schedule
Wednesday, February 15th
4:00pm USA U21 WNT vs. Scotland
Friday, February 17th
2:00pm USA U21 vs. England U21