August 16, 2006
The back-to-back Big 12 Champion Texas A&M soccer team earned a No. 9 ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Preseason Poll, released this week.
?It?â„¢s nice to see that we are regarded as a national top-10 team again this season,? said head coach G Guerrieri, whose squad earned the top-10 preseason ranking for the fifth straight year. ?We put a lot of stock in the NSCAA poll since this poll is done by the people who live and die for the sport.?
Defending national champion Portland received the top spot in the poll, followed by UCLA, Penn State, North Carolina and Notre Dame.
Rounding out the top-10 are Florida State, Santa Clara, Virginia, Texas A&M and California.
The Aggies will face six of the top-25 teams (UCLA, Penn State, North Carolina, Santa Clara, Illinois and Cal State Fullerton) listed on the poll in pre-conference matches with four of the six making the top-10 (UCLA, Penn State, North Carolina and Santa Clara).
A&M is the only Big 12 team represented on the preseason poll.
The Aggies will travel to Columbus, Ohio to face Ohio State in an exhibition match on Friday, Aug. 18. Kick off at Columbus Crew Stadium is scheduled for 4 p.m.
A&M will begin the regular season at home on Friday, Aug. 25 against North Carolina. The game is slated for 8 p.m. Single-match and season tickets are available by logging on to aggieathletics.com or by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE.