Friday, August 21
Houston, Texas
7:00 PM
Texas A&M
at
Rice
Match Day Preview: Rice
Aug 20, 2015 | Soccer
| Kickoff: | Friday, Aug. 21 - 7 p.m. |
| Venue: | Rice Track/Soccer Stadium |
| Watch: | OwlVision |
| Listen: | Sports Radio 1150/The Zone 102.7 FM |
| Live Stats: | riceowls.com |
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies open the 2015 season Friday traveling to Houston for a 7 pm match at Rice. The Aggies look to build on the historic 2014 campaign that found them repeating as SEC regular-season and tournament titleists, earning their first-ever College Cup bid and post a program-best record at 22-3-2. Friday's match will pit the Maroon and White against an Aggie legend as Nicky (Thrasher) Adams is in her fifth season as the Owls' head coach. This fall, Adams will be inducted in the Texas A&M Lettermen's Association Hall of Fame.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's match will be streamed live on OwlVision. Fans can listen to the match on SportsRadio 1150 The Zone and 102.7 FM in Bryan/College Station.
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 59-13-5 over their three years, the fourth-best win total in the nation. Florida State's seniors are 67-7-4, followed by Virginia 65-9-3 and UCLA 61-5-7.
LAST TIME OUT - TULSA (EXHIBITION)
Texas A&M bested the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in an exhibition match, 2-1, last Saturday at Ellis Field. Two freshmen notched goals midway through the first half to lead A&M to a 2-0 lead at the intermission. On a free kick opportunity, Brittany Crabtree found the goal with assists from McKayla Paulson and Karlie Mueller. In the 22nd minute, Emily Bates scored an unassisted marker for the two-goal advantage. Tulsa broke up the Aggies' shutout bid in the 77th minute. A&M held advantages in shots (24-6), shots-on-goal (10-3) and corner kicks (6-3).
WINNING
A&M has finished with a winning record in all of its previous 22 seasons. The closest the Aggies have finished to the .500 mark is the 14-8 (.636) record they posted in 1998.
OPENING ON THE ROAD
Friday marks the sixth time Texas A&M will start the regular-season outside of College Station (3-2) and just the second time they will begin the regular-season with a true road game (1-0). The only other time A&M started the regular-season at an opponent's stadium came in 2012 when the Maroon and White opened the season with a 2-1 win at UC Irvine. The Aggies started the 1993, 1994 and 1996 seasons in Plano with a loss against Arkansas (2-1) and wins against Centenary (4-1) and Tulane (8-1), respectively. In 2001, Texas A&M started the season with a 4-2 loss to Stanford in San Marcos, Texas.
A&M IN SEASON OPENERS
Since 1993, Texas A&M is 18-4 all-time in the first match of the year. The Aggies won 11 of their last 13 season openers with the losses coming to then-No. 1 North Carolina (L, 0-3) in 2010 and then-No. 7 Duke (L, 0-2) in 2013.
A&M IN HOME OPENERS
Since 1993, Texas A&M is 20-2 all-time in home openers. Seventeen of the Aggies' 22 home openers also doubled as season openers with A&M posting a 15-2 mark in those games. The five years the Aggies did not begin the season at home were 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001 and 2012. In 1993, A&M did not appear at home until the eighth game of the season when the Aggies handed Oral Roberts an 11-0 defeat.
SERIES VS. RICE
The Aggies own a 3-0 advantage in the all-time series against Rice, including a 2-1 win in the only previous meeting in Houston in 2008. The teams first met in 2002 with A&M notching a 4-1 victory and the Aggies scored a 6-0 triumph in 2007.
SCOUTING RICE
Rice is the preseason favorite to win the Conference USA title. The C-USA Coaches' Poll had Rice picked ahead of North Texas and Charlotte in the 14-team standings. The Owls had three players selected to the Conference USA Preseason All-Conference Team, including senior Lauren Hughes who was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and junior Jenny Fichera who was tabbed the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Rice returns 20 letterwinners, including seven starters from last season's squad which posted a school record-tying 14 wins, won the C-USA Tournament championship and earned a bid in the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2005.
HELLO, OLD FRIEND
On Friday night, Texas A&M will face an Aggie legend as Nicky (Thrasher) Adams skippers the Rice Owls. On September 18, Adams will be inducted into the Texas A&M Lettermen's Association Hall of Fame. The former Nicky Thrasher while at Texas A&M from 1997-2001, Adams was a star forward that helped guide the Aggies to three Big 12 Conference titles and an NCAA Championship Elite Eight appearance. She currently ranks second on A&M's career list for goals (57), third in points (140) and fifth in assists (26). She twice earned all-region and all-conference recognition as well as being named an NSCAA All-America her senior season.
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.
AGGIES EXTEND 15-WIN SEASON STRETCH TO 11 YEARS
With their win in the 2014 regular-season finale against Georgia, the Aggies posted their 11th consecutive 15-win season dating back to 2004. 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 Aggies finished the season with a school-record 22 wins.
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.
The Aggies return 14 of 60 assists from last season. 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.
HARVEY NAMED TO MAC HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST
Mikaela Harvey was named to the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy 28-player watch list. Harvey and Stanford's Andi Sullivan were the only two sophomores named to the list. Harvey battled through multiple injuries in 2014 playing 21 games with eight starts. She logged two assists on the season. Harvey participated in five matches for the US U20 Women's National Team in 2015 with four starts.
TOPDRAWERSOCCER.COM PRESEASON TOP 100
Senior midfielder Janae Cousineau was listed No. 74 on TopDrawerSoccer.com's Preseason Top 100. Cousineau, who has always been a force on the defensive end had an offensive breakthrough in 2014, notching 14 points with six goals and two assists on the year en route to All-SEC Second Team recognition.
AGGIES NOTCH THEIR 200th WIN AT ELLIS FIELD
Texas A&M owns a 206-30-6 (.864) all-time record at Ellis Field (formerly Aggie Soccer Stadium). The Maroon and White have called the field home since the 1994 season, playing the inaugural 1993 season at Old Tiger Field. Since 2005, the Aggies have registered a 106-14-6 (.865) mark on the friendly pitch. Texas A&M is 213-30-6 (.867) all-time in College Station, going 7-0-0 in their one season at Old Tiger Field.
GUERRIERI RANKS AMONG THE NATION'S WINNINGEST COACHES
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 394-121-29 (.751), he ranks fifth in victories and winning percentage (minimum five years as a Division I head coach). Guerrieri ranks sixth all-time among NCAA Division I coaches in victories, trailing North Carolina's Anson Dorrance (779), Connecticut's Len Tsantiris (525), Florida's Becky Burleigh (436), Santa Clara's Jerry Smith (424) and Randy Waldrum (400), who left Notre Dame in 2014 to become head coach of the Houston Dash of the NWSL.
LONE STAR DOMINANCE
Since the 2008 season, the Aggies own a 21-0-5 (.904) mark against in-state rivals, including an 11-0-4 record against their former Big 12 Conference colleagues. This season, A&M is 2-0-0 against teams from Texas, toppling Stephen F. Austin 2-1 on the opening weekend and Houston Baptist, 5-0, in the first round of the NCAA Championship. Last season, A&M went 1-0-2 against Lone Star foe, topping UTSA, 1-0, in the second game of the season, tying Baylor, 0-0, in the sixth game, and tying Texas Tech, 2-2, in the NCAA Second Round, eventually advancing on penalty kicks. This year, the Aggies dropped Stephen F. Austin, 1-0, on August 24 and Houston Baptist, 5-0, in the NCAA Championship first round.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return to action next weekend with a pair of matches at Ellis Field. The Maroon and White host UC Irvine in a 7 pm match on Friday and Florida Atlantic in a 6 pm match on Sunday.
Players Mentioned
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