Sept. 16, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 6 Texas A&M soccer team wraps up a three-game road swing with a top-10 battle at No. 3 Portland at 9 p.m. Friday. The Aggies then return home for a 6 p.m. match against Cal State Northridge on Sunday.
A&M (6-1) has won six straight games, has steadily moved up in the polls, and looks for their third win against a ranked opponent this season on Friday.
Portland (8-0) enters the highly-touted match unbeaten and outscoring its opponents 17-5 this year. Cal State Northridge (4-3) has won two in a row and four of its last five matches and faces Penn Friday before traveling to the Aggie Soccer Stadium on Sunday.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Gametracker will be available for both matches this weekend on AggieAthletics.com. In addition, live audio will be provided on AggieAthletics.com. Live video will be provided on AggieAthletics.com on Sunday only. Fans can also listen to Sunday's broadcast live locally on Candy 95.1 HD3 Play-by-Replay channel, making it available worldwide on any iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry or PDA free of charge. Log on to RadioAggieland.com to download the app.
FOLLOW AGGIE SOCCER ON TWITTER
Not following Aggie Soccer on Twitter? Sign up or sign in now to find out what's happening. You will stay up-to-date on the latest news and receive live in-game updates at each and every match.
TICKET AND PARKING INFORMATION FOR SUNDAY
Tickets for A&M's match against Cal State Northridge on Sunday are $7 for adult general admission, $9 for reserved seats and $4 for youth general admission. Children under 2 are permitted free of charge in general admission seating. To purchase tickets, please contact the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Center at tickets.12thmanfoundation.com, 979-845-2311 or toll free at 1-888-99-AGGIE. Tickets are also available in person beginning one hour before the match at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
Parking is free and is available in the Reed Arena and Olsen parking lots. For added convenience, there are now two entrances on the north end of the stadium.
LISTEN TO THE GAME AT THE STADIUM SUNDAY
Fans, bring your radio to the Aggie Soccer Stadium on Sunday and listen to play-by-play announcer David Ellis call all the action live on 88.1 FM.
ALL ABOUT A&M
After dropping their season opener to No. 1 North Carolina, the sixth-ranked Aggies have rallied off six straight wins, including five-goal performances each of the last three Friday nights and two shutouts. A&M is averaging 3.00 goals per game and has the 10th-best scoring offense in the nation. Senior Alyssa Mautz is leading the attack with six goals and 13 points. Junior Merritt Mathias is second with 11 points (4G, 3A), while senior Rachel Shipley follows with 10 points (3G, 4A). Junior Bri Young has a team-best five assists and adds two goals for nine points. Senior Whitney Hooper also totals nine points (3G, 3A). Senior goalkeeper Kristin Arnold posts a 1.42 goals against average and a .730 save percentage.
SCOUTING PORTLAND
The Pilots have won half of their eight matches this year via the shutout and are limiting their opponents to just 4.9 shots per game. The sixth-ranked Aggies, however, will be highest-ranked opponent that Portland has faced this season. The team is outscoring its competition, 17-5, but has given up four of those goals in its last three games. The Pilots average 2.12 goals each match and are 5-0 at home. Micaela Capelle leads the offense with 13 points (6G, 1A) and Sophie Schmidt is second with eight points (2G, 4A). Keelin Winters and Danielle Foxhoven are also offensive weapons with two goals and three assists each. Elli Reed adds a team-high four assists. At keeper, Erin Dees has logged the most minutes and allowed three goals for a 0.43 goals against average and a .786 save percentage.
SCOUTING CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE
The Matadors are coming off of a pair of 1-0 shutouts against Kansas and UNLV and won four of their last five games with their only loss in that stretch coming against No. 11 UCLA. Cal State Northridge faced Portland earlier in the year and fell by a score of 2-1. The team is averaging 11.0 shots per game with a .481 shot on goal percentage. The Matadors are 1-2 on the road and have seen the most scoring from Farryn Townly with three goals. Brittanie Sakajian has also totaled six points (2G, 2A), while two other players have added a goal and an assist. Cynthia Jacobo has seen the majority of time between the posts and records a 1.27 goals against average and a .812 save percentage.
THE SERIES
The Aggies are 1-2 all-time against the Pilots and last faced the team in College Station a year ago. On Sept. 18, 2009, Texas A&M came away with a 3-1 win in front of 3,542 fans at the Aggie Soccer Stadium. Hooper scored two goals, including the game-winner to help snap the Pilots' seven-game winning streak. A&M also faced Portland twice in 2001 when they came away with two wins, the last of which ended the Aggies' season in the NCAA Elite Eight at Portland.
Sunday is the first meeting between Texas A&M and Cal State Northridge.
SIMILARITIES IN SEASONS
The Aggies are off to a similar start as they were just two years ago in 2008 when the team made its fourth run to the NCAA Elite Eight. With a 6-1 start each season, A&M had outscored its opponents 23-8 then, and this season is outscoring the competition 21-10. In both years the team had two shutouts, but in 2010 the Aggies are averaging more shots (23.4-18.1) and limiting their opponents to fewer shots (10.7-11.3), with more corner kicks (43-37) and shots on goal (79-68).
AGGIES IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
In addition to the 10th-best scoring offense in the nation, Texas A&M has the 15th-best win-lost-tied percentage. Individually, Young is ranked eighth with five assists and 16th with 0.71 assists per game. Mautz ranks 11th with six goals and 22nd with 13 points and 0.857 goals per game. Shipley is ranked 20th with four assists.
AGGIES IN THE BIG 12 RANKINGS
Texas A&M is atop the Big 12 in almost every offensive category - shots (23.4), goals (21), assists (24), points (66), goals per game (3.00), assists per game (3.43) and corners per game (6.14). Individually, Mathias and Mautz lead the league with 34 shots each. Mautz is the frontrunner in points (13), goals (6), shots per game (4.86), points per game (1.86), goals per game (0.86) and game-winning goals (3). Mathias shares the No. 1 ranking with 4.86 shots per game and is third with two game-winners. Young is also at the top of the list with five assists and 0.71 assists per game. Shipley is third-best in the conference with four assists and 0.57 assists per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Young headed in the golden goal nearly three minutes into overtime to give the Aggies an exciting 2-1 win over Purdue last Sunday. The Boilermakers got on the scoreboard via an own goal, but Hooper answered a minute later to even the score. Young's second goal of the season and game-winner came on a corner kick from Shipley in the 93rd minute. A&M scored three first-half goals last Friday en route to a 5-2 victory at Indiana.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M begins the quest for its 11th Big 12 Championship next weekend and faces Colorado at home on Friday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. before going back on the road for a 1 p.m. match at Nebraska on Sunday, Sept. 26.
THE AGGIE SOCCER HOUR
New this year, the Aggie Soccer Hour, Texas A&M soccer's weekly radio talk show sponsored by Monograms & More, is broadcast live from CiCi's Pizza on Texas Ave. in College Station every Tuesday from 6-7 p.m. Come and be a part of the show each week, listen locally on KZNE 1150 AM or worldwide on Aggies All-Access and RadioAggieland.com.
THE AGGIE SOCCER SHOW
Each week, catch everything related to Texas A&M soccer with Will Johnson and head coach G Guerrieri on the Aggie Soccer Show. The show is available free each Tuesday on Aggies All-Access.
AGGIE SOCCER ON TV The Aggie soccer team will be on the tube for its Oct. 17 match at Missouri. The game will be broadcast nationwide on ESPNU. In addition, the finals of the Big 12 Championship will be broadcast live on FSN.