Match Day Preview: SEC Tournament Semifinal

Friday, November 6

Orange Beach, Ala.

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

LSU

Nov 05, 2015 | Soccer

ORANGE BEACH, Alabama - Texas A&M battles LSU on Friday evening with a chance to advance to their third consecutive SEC Tournament championship match. The Maroon and White, the two-time defending champion, enter the contest with a seven-match win streak at the SEC Tournament and an 8-1 all-time record in Orange Beach. The Aggies and Tigers did not meet during the 2015 regular-season. Texas A&M is 4-0-1 all-time against LSU, including 3-0-0 since the Aggies joined the SEC.
The Aggies are looking for their eighth conference tournament title. In addition to winning SEC Tournament crowns the last two seasons, A&M won Big 12 Championship crowns in 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2011.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's match is being televised on the SEC Network. The match will be available digitally on mobile devices, tablets, PCs and connect-TVs for SEC Network subscribers whose cable/satellite packages allow access to SEC Network+ through the WatchESPN app and SECSports.com. The match can be heard on the RadioAggieland app, RadioAggieland.com and 12thMan.com. Friday's match may be heard on Fusion FM - HD2 on HD radio at 95.1-2 FM locally.

SEC TOURNAMENT SCORELESS STRING
The Aggies enter Friday's contest with a 422-minute, 12-second scoreless string in SEC Tournament action. Texas A&M did not yield a goal during last season's SEC Tournament, outscoring foes 5-0. Jordan Day made 11 saves during the three shutouts, including six in the 1-0 championship win against Kentucky. The last goal the Aggies yield in SEC Tournament play came in the 28th minute of the 2013 championship match against Florida which A&M won 2-1.

LAST TIME OUT - OLE MISS
The Aggies dictated the terms of play for much of the match, but didn't put the biscuit in the basket until the 75th minute. Ally Watt drew first blood racing past Ole Miss's outside back on the left side, and punched a shot past the keeper from the left side of the 6-yard box to the right side netting. Emily Bates added an insurance goal in the 81st minute, striking a ball from 19 yards out, right of the penalty arc, to the left side netting. Danielle Rice made one save in her first A&M career start to record the shutout.

SERIES VS. LSU
The Aggies are 4-0-1 all-time against the Tigers, including 3-0-0 since A&M joined the SEC. All five meetings have come since 2009 with the first two meetings coming in the NCAA Championship. In 2009, the Aggies and Tigers played to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes in the NCAA Championship second round in Baton Rouge with A&M advancing in the penalty kick shootout, 4-2. The squads met in College Station for the first round of the 2011 NCAA Championship with A&M notching a 4-0 victory.

The Aggies' first two wins against LSU as SEC members were historic victories. In 2012, the Aggies played their first-ever SEC league match in Baton Rouge with Rachel Lenz scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win. In 2013, A&M beat LSU in the regular-season finale, 3-2, to earn a share of their first-ever SEC regular-season title. Last year, the Aggies toppled LSU, 4-1.

SCOUTING LSU
The Tigers enter Friday's semifinal contest on a hot streak, going 5-0-1 in their last six matches. All of the matches during the stretch have been decided by one goal or less, including a pair of 2-1 wins over Kentucky and Missouri at the SEC Tournament.

LSU is 13-4-4 on the year and finished the regular-season tied for seventh place in the SEC with a 5-4-2 league mark.

Jorian Baucom leads the Tigers with 32 points and 15 goals on the year. Summer Clarke has 19 points on seven goals and five assists and Natalia Gomez-Junco chipped in 17 points with five goals and seven assists.

Catalina Rubiano has played all but 5 minutes, 31 seconds in goal, sporting a 1.10 goals-against average, 79 saves and six shutouts.

TEXAS A&M OWNS LONGEST ACTIVE 15-WIN SEASON STREAK
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 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

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.

RICE'S SUCCESSFUL DEBUT
Danielle Rice has been outstanding in her first two 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. She spent her first two seasons at Creighton where she started all 36 games during her career, logging eight shutouts.

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 20 games, the same 11 returnees have notched 26 goals and 21 assists (73 points).

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 strong start to the season. Emily Bates leads the group with 15 starts followed by Kate Hajdu with 13 starts. Ally Watt has 11 starts followed by Brittany Crabtree with eight. Kendall Ritchie has two starts and Claudette Lassandro made her first career start in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal. Amethyst Kelly and Margaret Schmidt have all seen relief action. 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 17 points on six goals and five assists. Watt has SEC goals on the year, all in SEC play. Hajdu has three goals and three assists. Crabtree has two goals and one assist. Lassandro has one goal and Schmidt has one assist on the season.

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 to 16th in the nation and fifth among SEC players in career matches played with 87 caps. She trails on Florida's Christen Westphal (91) and Claire Falknor (88) and South Carolina's Stevi Parker (88) and Caroline Gray (88) among SEC players. Mueller has made 74 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.

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 408-126-30 (.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 (792), Connecticut's Len Tsantiris (542), Florida's Becky Burleigh (451) and Santa Clara's Jerry Smith (435).

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 accounted for 17 goals and 10 assists for 44 points through the regular-season. Haley Pounds has produced 26 points with 11 goals and four 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. After going without a goal in her first 22 career matches, Mikaela Harvey has scored a goal in six of the last 18 contests and has added two 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. The four sophomores all played at least 1,400 of the 1,639 minutes on the season with Paulson playing every second of the matches.

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 0.98 goals-against average and nine 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. Rice has not allowed a goal in 131 minutes of action.

PAULSON EARNS EARLY IRONMAN HONORS
Defender McKayla Paulson leads the Aggies in minutes played, working the entirety of the first 20 matches for 1,839 minutes of play. Mikaela Harvey (1,723), Ashlynn Harryman (1,721), Haley Pounds (1,721), Grace Wright (1,640), Stephanie Malherbe (1,625) and Karlie Mueller (1,605) are all averaging over 80 minutes per Texas A&M match.

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.

CONFERENCE WINNING
The Aggies have finished with a winning record in league play in all 20 years it has been aligned with a conference. This season is the lowest conference winning percentage for the Aggies at .591. Prior to this season, the closest the Aggies have finished to the .500 mark in league play is the 5-3-2 (.600) record they posted in Big 12 play in 2003. This marks the first time since 2003 that the Aggies did not finish either first or second in the conference. In 20 seasons of league action, A&M has finished first or second in the conference standings on 17 occasions with the other non-top-two finishes coming in 1998 (3rd Big 12 - 7-2) and 2003 (5th Big 12 - 5-3-2).

LONE STAR DOMINANCE
With their win against North Texas on September 20, the Aggies improved to 24-0-5 (.914) mark against in-state rivals since 2008, including an 11-0-4 record against their former Big 12 Conference colleagues. This season, A&M is 3-0-0 against teams from Texas, toppling Rice 4-2 in the season opener and Abilene Christian, 4-1, on September 6, in addition to the North Texas victory. Last season, A&M went 2-0-0 against Lone Star foe, dropping Stephen F. Austin, 1-0, on August 24 and Houston Baptist, 5-0, in the NCAA Championship first round.

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 73-18-6 over their four years, the third-best win total in the nation. Florida State's seniors are 78-9-7, followed by Virginia 78-9-4.

NIP-AND-TUCK
Over the last three seasons, the Aggies are 26-7-5 in games decided by one game or less. This season, the Maroon and White are 5-3-1 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.

TOURNAMENT INTENSITY
Six of Texas A&M's eight SEC Tournament wins to date have been by one goal and the Aggies' highest goal output has been three goals against Georgia in last year's quarterfinal. Texas A&M won the 2013 SEC Tournament with just five goals on the back of three one-goal decisions. Last year, the Aggies notched 1-0 wins in the semifinal bout against South Carolina and the championship match against Kentucky.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
The Aggies have a tradition of success at conference tournaments with an overall mark of 31-11-4 in league tournaments, winning seven conference tournament crowns, including SEC Tournament crowns the last two seasons.

A&M posted a 23-10-4 record at the Big 12 Championship and won the title in five of the tournament's first 16 years. The Aggies won titles in 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2011.

ALL-TIME SEC TOURNAMENT RESULTS
2012
W, 1-0 (ot)    South Carolina                 10/31
L, 0-2               Auburn                                  11/2
2013
W, 1-0             Auburn                                  11/6
W, 2-1             South Carolina (#9)          11/8
W, 2-1             Florida (#5)                        11/10
2014
W, 3-0             Georgia                                 11/5
W, 1-0             South Carolina (#17)        11/7
W, 1-0             Kentucky (#20)                  11/9
2015
W, 2-0             Ole Miss (#17)                    11/4

TEXAS A&M SEC TOURNAMENT RECORDS
INDIVIDUAL GOALS
Game
2, Liz Keester (vs South Carolina - W, 2-1 [semifinal]; November 8, 2013)
Tournament
3, Liz Keester (2013)
Career
3, Liz Keester (2013-current)

INDIVIDUAL ASSISTS
Game
1, 11 times
Tournament
2, Shea Groom (2013) & Kelley Monogue (2014)
Career
3, Shea Groom (2012-14) & Kelley Monogue (2012-14)

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UP NEXT
The winner of Friday's match will advance to Sunday's 1 pm championship contest, playing either Florida or Auburn/South Carolina. The loser will head home to await the NCAA Championship selection show at 3:30 pm on Monday to receive their next assignment.