Match Day Preview: NCAA Championship Quarterfinal

Friday, November 27

Tallahassee, Fla.

1:00 PM

Texas A&M

Florida State

Photo by: Dawson Powers/Clemson Athletics

Nov 25, 2015 | Soccer

The Matchup:	#21 Texas A&M (17-6-2) at #2 Florida State (17-2-4)
Kickoff:	Friday, Nov. 27 - 1 p.m. CST
Venue:	Seminole Soccer Complex (2,000)
Live Video:	none
Listen:	102.7 FM (David Ellis, Curt Magnuson) \| 12thman.com
Live Stats:	Click Here
Game Notes:	Texas A&M \| F lorida State

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M faces defending national champion Florida State on Friday in Tallahassee with a chance for the Aggies to advance to their second consecutive College Cup.

Playing in their sixth NCAA Quarterfinal, including their second in a row, the youthful Aggies are on a tournament run that includes a 2-1 win against Washington in the first round, giving North Carolina a second round exit for the first time in the 34-year history of the tournament, and prevailing in a PK shootout against Ole Miss in the third round. Texas A&M's starting lineup in the third round featured five freshmen and four sophomores.

On Friday, the Aggies' arsenal will be paced by a sophomore and two freshmen. Second-year player Haley Pounds leads the team with 31 points on a team-high 13 goals to go with five assists. Rookies Emily Bates and Ally Watt have 20 and 14 points, respectively. Bates has seven goals and six assists, and Watt boasts seven goals including the game-winner against UNC. The Aggies will be without the services of Mikaela Harvey who was booked with a dubious second yellow card in the first overtime period against Ole Miss.

On the defensive end, Danielle Rice has three shutouts in six starts. She combined with the Aggie backline to keep North Carolina scoreless in an NCAA Championship game for just the eighth time in 135 matches. The junior goalkeeper made two saves in the six rounds of the penalty kick shootout against Ole Miss.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Aggies are playing in their 21st consecutive NCAA Championship, one of five teams to play in each of the last 21 tournaments. The other schools to make it to every tournament since 1995 are North Carolina (1982-2014), Notre Dame (1993-2014), Virginia (1994-2014) and Penn State (1995-2014). A&M is 33-20-5 (.612) all-time in the NCAA Championship. This season, the Aggies appeared in the Sweet 16 for the 14th time. The Maroon and White have advanced to the Elite Eight six times, including each of the last two seasons. The Aggies made their first College Cup appearance last season.
Since 1999, Texas A&M has made 13 Sweet Sixteen appearances which is tied with Stanford for fifth in the nation for highest total during that span. The Aggies trail only North Carolina (16), UCLA (16), Virginia (16), and Florida State (15) over that stretch.

Elite Eight (6) - 2001, '02, '06, '08, '14, '15
College Cup (1) - 2014

ADVANCING TO GOOD COMPANY
Texas A&M has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship in each of their last 18 appearances. It marks the third-longest active streak behind only North Carolina (34) and Virginia (22). The Maroon and White have gone 16-0-2 during the span, advancing on PKs in 2003 (vs. SMU) and 2010 (vs. North Dakota State).
Since 1999, Texas A&M has made 13 Sweet Sixteen appearances which is tied with Stanford for fifth in the nation for highest total during that span. The Aggies trail only North Carolina (16), UCLA (16), Virginia (16), and Florida State (15) over that stretch.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
The match can be heard on the RadioAggieland app, RadioAggieland.com and 12thMan.com. The match may be heard on 102.7 The Zone locally. The match will not have video streaming. If played at Texas A&M, the match would be available for viewing.

PENALTY KICK HISTORY
With their penalty kick shootout against Ole Miss in this season's NCAA Championship third round, the Aggies came out on the top end of their 10th consecutive shootout. Seven of the 10 advances have come in NCAA Tournament play, including the 2002 NCAA Sweet 16 in which A&M scored a decision against UCLA despite not recording a shot in the 110 minutes of game action.
Going into the Ole Miss shootout, Kristi Leonard was the only Aggie with prior PK shootout experience, making a shot in a duel against Texas Tech in the 2013 NCAA Second Round in which Texas A&M prevailed, 5-3.

TEXAS A&M EXTENDS LENGTHIEST ACTIVE 15-WIN SEASON STREAK
With the win against LSU in the SEC Tournament semifinal, the Aggies reached the 15-win mark for the 12th consecutive season. Texas A&M entered the 2015 campaign with 11 consecutive 15-win seasons, the longest active stretch in Division I. The only other team to enter the season with a double-digit stretch entering the year was Florida State with 10 consecutive 15-win seasons. Stanford (9) and Florida (8) were the only other schools with more than five consecutive 15-win campaigns. In their first 22 seasons, the only two years the Aggies have not reached the 15-win plateau are 1998 (14-8) and 2003 (13-6-3). The school record for victories stands at 22, set last season with a 22-3-2 mark.

        CONSECUTIVE 15-WIN SEASONS ENTERING 2015
        *Texas A&M - 11
        *Florida State - 10
        *Stanford - 9
        *Florida - 8
* - have reached 15-win mark in 2015

LAST TIME OUT - OLE MISS
After playing to a 1-1 draw through 110 minutes, the Aggies extended their string of success in PKs to their 10th straight shootout win, besting the Rebels 5-4 in six rounds. Danielle Rice made two saves and Sarah Shaw hit the walk-off PK to send the Aggies to their sixth Elite Eight. Ole Miss jumped out to an early lead, but Mikaela Harvey put in an equalizer in the 31st minute. Texas A&M had to play the last 16:28 of the match with 10 players after Harvey was sent off with a second yellow. The Aggies still managed to outshoot the Rebels 5-0 while down a player. For the match, the Aggies outshot the Rebels 17-6 and held a 7-2 edge in shots-on-goal.

SERIES VS. FLORIDA STATE
The Aggies and Seminoles have met on five occasions with Florida State owning a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series. The squads played earlier this season with the Seminoles prevailing, 3-1, in Tallahassee. Emily Bates gave the Aggies a lead in the 22nd minute and Texas A&M held the advantage for 45 minutes. Florida State broke the scoring seal in the 67th minute and added two more down the stretch.
The teams first met in 1999 with the Aggies registering a 2-1 win in College Station. The following season the teams met in Tallahassee with the Seminoles winning 4-1. The next two meetings came in NCAA Championship Sweet Sixteen action with Florida State as the host. In 2009, the Seminoles logged a 2-1 overtime win and posted a 4-0 victory in 2012.

SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE
Florida State, the defending national champion, enters the fray with a 17-2-4 overall record and the Seminoles have been a tough opponent at home where they have an 11-0-1 mark on the year.
The Seminoles posted a 6-1-3 overall to finish second in the ACC, but they won the tournament title, topping Virginia in a penalty kick shootout, 7-6, after playing to a 2-2 draw in the ACC Championship title match.
Florida State has rolled through their three NCAA Championship matches, outscoring Evansville (3-0), South Alabama (5-0) and Auburn (2-0) by a combined 10-0 margin.
The Seminoles have a balanced attack with six different players scoring at least five goals on the season. Megan Connolly leads the team with 26 points on eight goals and a team-high 10 assists. Cheyna Williams has 24 points on a team-high nine goals and six assists. Supersub Berglind Thorvaldsdottir has 17 points on eight goals and one assist in 20 matches, all off the bench.
Cassie Miller has started all 23 matches for Florida State, registering a 0.57 goals-against average, 47 saves and eight shutouts. She has also shared six shutouts with Caroline Brockmeier, who has played 103 minutes.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The Aggies welcomed nine freshmen to the squad this season and they've made the immediate impact that was necessary for a successful season. Emily Bates leads the group with 20 starts followed by Kate Hajdu with 18 starts. Ally Watt has 16 starts followed by Brittany Crabtree with nine. On the backline, Kendall Ritchie has seven starts and Margaret Schmidt has four starts. Claudette Lassandro made her first career start in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal. Amethyst Kelly has seen relief action in eight matches. Mia Hummel has eight starts in goal for the Aggies.
Hajdu was named SEC Freshman of the Week the opening weekend, Bates earned the honor for the fourth week of action and Watt earned the award after A&M's 1-0 win at Kentucky. Bates ranks second on the team with 20 points on seven goals and six assists. Watt has seven goals on the year, including six SEC play and one in the 1-0 win over North Carolina. Hajdu has four goals and four assists. Crabtree has two goals and one assist. Lassandro has one goal and Schmidt has one assist on the season.

EVERYBODY IS DOING IT
With Danielle Rice's two shutouts in the SEC Tournament, Texas A&M became the first SEC team to have five different goalkeepers record multiple shutouts over a two year span. In 2014, Renee McDermott logged four shutouts and Jordan Day notched three shutouts (all in the SEC Tournament). The Aggies had goalkeepers combine on two other shutouts during the year. This season, Mia Hummel leads the squad with four shutouts followed by Rice with three and Taylor Saucier with two. The Aggies also have two combined shutouts in 2015.

        Shutouts in 2014 and 2015
        Renee McDermott (2014) 4
        Mia Hummel (2015)            4
        Jordan Day (2014)               3
        Taylor Saucier (2014-15)   2
        Danielle Rice (2015)            3
        Combined shutouts           4
        Total                                       20

RICE'S SUCCESSFUL DEBUT
Danielle Rice has been outstanding in her first seven outings. In the regular-season finale, she entered the contest in the 69th minute with the score tied 1-1 against Missouri and made four saves, including a PK stop in the second overtime period to stave off defeat. In her first career A&M start, Rice posted a shutout in the Aggies' SEC Tournament quarterfinal win against Ole Miss and followed with a shutout in her next game, a 1-0 win against LSU. Rice also started the Aggies' 2-1 win against Washington in the NCAA Championship first round and registered just the eighth shutout against North Carolina in 135 NCAA Championship matches in the Aggies' 1-0 victory in the second round. She owns a 0.60 goals-against average, three shutouts and 15 saves in 601 minutes of action. In the Sweet Sixteen, she made two saves in the penalty kick shootout as the Aggies prevailed 5-4 in six rounds. She spent her first two seasons at Creighton where she started all 36 games during her career, logging eight shutouts.

GUERRIERI REACHES 400-WIN MILESTONE
Texas A&M head coach G Guerrieri ranks among the leaders in winning percentage and victories among active Division I coaches. With a career record of 411-127-31 (.750), he ranks fifth in victories and sixth in winning percentage (minimum five years as a Division I head coach). Guerrieri ranks fifth all-time among NCAA Division I coaches in victories, trailing only North Carolina's Anson Dorrance (794), Connecticut's Len Tsantiris (545), Florida's Becky Burleigh (455) and Santa Clara's Jerry Smith (438).

HUMMEL RACKING UP SHUTOUTS
Despite not starting three league contests, freshman Mia Hummel shared the SEC lead for most shutouts in conference action (four) with Ole Miss's Marnie Merritt. The rookie goalkeeper recorded league shutouts against Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky and Arkansas.

RETURNING OFFENSE
The Aggies return just seven of 71 goals (9.9 percent) from last season. Janae Cousineau accounts for six of the returning goals and Haley Pounds notched one goal in 2014. A&M returns 14 of 60 assists from 2014. Karlie Mueller had the highest total among the returnees with five. Cousineau, Pounds, McKayla Paulson and Mikaela Harvey each notched two assists in 2014. Cousineau's 14 points last season is the most among the returnees.
Texas A&M's 11 returnees combined for just seven goals and 14 assists (28 points) during the 2014 campaign. Through 25 games, the same 11 returnees have notched 29 goals and 25 assists (83 points).

MUELLER AMONG ACTIVE LEADERS IN GAMES PLAYED
After missing the match against Kentucky due to a vicious elbow to the head sustained against Auburn, Texas A&M senior Karlie Mueller fell off the pace, but she still ranks eighth in the nation and second among SEC players in career matches played with 92 caps. She trails only Florida's Christen Westphal (95) among SEC players. Mueller has made 78 career starts and owns 20 career assists, including 10 as a sophomore in 2013. Her first career goal came in her 6,047th minute of play, scoring a golden goal in the 109th minute of a 2-1 victory against North Texas.

SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORES
After getting a year of seasoning under the auspices of last year's nine-player senior class, Texas A&M's four sophomores came out like gang busters this season. The quartet has accounted for 24 goals and 14 assists for 62 points on the season. Haley Pounds has produced 31 points with 13 goals and five assists, including her first career hat trick against Abilene Christian. She was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week the opening week when she logged one goal and four assists. Mikaela Harvey has 18 points on seven goals and four assists. McKayla Paulson notched the first two goals of her career, both in the win at Rice, and added a goal against Mississippi State and assists against UC Irvine and North Texas. Stephanie Malherbe logged her first career goal in the 2-1 win against then No. 10 Florida and has added three assists.

FILLING THE HOLE IN GOAL
With the exit of Jordan Day and Renee McDermott, the Aggies lost all but 31 of their goalkeeper minutes from the last four seasons. Day and McDermott played every minute of 2012 and 2013. In 2011, Megan Majewski played 17 minutes in goal. Last season, Taylor Saucier played 14 minutes in Texas A&M's NCAA Championship first round win against Houston Baptist, for the only action in her career entering the 2015 campaign.
On the season, the Aggie goalkeepers have combined to register a 0.94 goals-against average and 11 shutouts.
Saucier has started 11 contests, logging 920 minutes. She owns a 1.08 goals-against average, 35 saves and two shutouts. Saucier's goals-against average when PKs are taken out of the equation, stands at 0.88. Mia Hummel has seen action in 11 matches, including eight starts. She has yielded nine goals, made 24 saves and owns shutouts against Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky and Arkansas. Hummel and Saucier combined to record shutouts against Northwestern State and UC Irvine. Danielle Rice saw her first action in the regular-season finale registering four saves in 41 blank minutes, including making a save on a penalty kick to stave off defeat. In the SEC Tournament quarterfinal, Rice recorded her first shutout at A&M with a 2-0 blanking against Ole Miss and she followed with a 1-0 shutout against LSU. She added a 1-0 shutout against No. 8 North Carolina in NCAA Championship second round action. For the season, Rice has an 0.60 goals-against average, 15 saves and three shutouts.

AGGIES SET SINGLE-SEASON RECORD WIN TOTAL IN 2014
With their 2-1 win against Notre Dame in the NCAA Championship third round, the Aggies set a new school record with their 21st victory of the season, eclipsing the 20 wins amassed in 2002. That season, the Aggies finished 20-5-1, advancing to the NCAA Championship quarterfinal round. In 2002, teams were credited with wins if they prevailed in a penalty kick shootout situation. A&M won two penalty kick shootouts during the 2002 NCAA Championship. The Aggies finished the season 22-3-2 and own an .852 winning percentage. A&M's school-record for best winning percentage in a season is 1997 when they finished 18-3 (.857). Last year, the Maroon and White set a new school-record for matches played in a season with 27. The prior record was 26 set in 2002.

2015 ROSTER
The Aggies' 21-player roster features three seniors, four juniors, one redshirt sophomore, four sophomores and nine true freshmen. The team returns three players who started at least 50 percent of last year's matches (Janae Cousineau, Karlie Mueller and McKayla Paulson) and eight players who started at least one match.

IRON AGGIES
Prior to exiting the contest with an injury in the 15th minute of the SEC Tournament semifinal, McKayla Paulson was the only Aggie to play every second of the 2015 campaign. Paulson has since missed three matches. Mikaela Harvey now leads the team with 2,193 minutes. Haley Pounds (2,168), Ashlynn Harryman (2,128), Stephanie Malherbe (2,095) and Karlie Mueller (2,075) are all averaging over 80 minutes per Texas A&M match.
Harryman, Harvey, Malherbe and Pounds are the lone Aggies to start all 24 matches in 2015.

WINNING
With their win against Alabama on October 9, the Aggies guaranteed themselves their 23rd consecutive winning season - the entirety of their life as a program. The closest the Aggies have finished to the .500 mark is the 14-8 (.636) record they posted in 1998.

SUCCESSFUL SENIORS
Janae Cousineau, Kristi Leonard and Karlie Mueller represent one of the winningest active senior classes in the nation. The trio have enjoyed a record of 76-19-7 over their four years, the third-best win total in the nation. Florida State's seniors are 82-9-8, followed by Virginia 82-9-5.
The trio has set the school record for wins by a class over a four-year span, topping last season's seniors who went 75-19-7 during their time in College Station.

NIP-AND-TUCK
Over the last three seasons, the Aggies are 29-8-7 in games decided by one game or less. This season, the Maroon and White are 8-4-2 in games decided by one goal or less. Last season, Texas A&M went 11-2-2 in one-goal games, including a pair of 2-1 victories in their run to the College Cup. The Aggies went 10-2-2 in the nail-biters in 2012, including all three of their wins en route to winning their first-ever SEC Tournament title.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP ACTION AT ELLIS FIELD
The Aggies have been a tough opponent to handle in NCAA Championship action at Ellis Field. A&M owns a 25-4-1 (.850) record and the Maroon and White have advanced to the next round on 26 of 30 opportunities when playing on the friendly confines. The Aggies lost two of the first three NCAA Championship games at Ellis Field, against San Diego (5-3) in 1997 and SMU (1-0) in 1998. Since 1999, A&M has gone 24-2-1 (.907) and the Maroon and White have won their last 10 NCAA Championship matches at Ellis Field and 16 of their last 17. The last NCAA Championship loss for the Aggies at Ellis Field came against Texas (3-2) in 2007.

CONSISTENT SUCCESS
G Guerrieri and North Carolina's Anson Dorrance are the only two coaches to appear in every NCAA Championship since 1995.

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UP NEXT
The winner will play the victor of the Duke-Stanford match next Friday at the College Cup in Cary, North Carolina.