Match Day Preview: UC Irvine

Friday, August 28

College Station

7:30 PM

Texas A&M

UC Irvine

Tickets

Aug 27, 2015 | Soccer

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies welcome foes from both coasts this weekend as they host a pair of matches at Ellis Field. The Maroon and White welcome the UC Irvine Anteaters to College Station for a 7:30 pm match on Friday. Sunday evening finds the Aggies entertaining the Florida Atlantic Owls in a 6 pm contest. A pair of wins on the weekend would give Texas A&M a 4-0-0 start for the second consecutive season and the sixth time in school annals. The Aggies' youngsters have led the SEC's top offensive attack. Sophomore Haley Pounds leads the league in points (6) and assists (4). Sophomore McKayla Paulson and freshman Kate Hajdu each have two goals on the year.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Both matches 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. Both matches can be heard on the RadioAggieland app and 12thMan.com. Sunday's match can be heard on SportsRadio 1150 The Zone and 102.7 FM in Bryan-College Station.

3-0-0 STARTS
The Aggies are looking for their eighth 3-0-0 start in school history. Last year, Texas A&M started the season 3-0-0, snapping a seven-year string of dropping a decision in one of the season's first three matches.

PERFECT STARTS THROUGH THREE MATCHES
1995........................................................................ 3-0-0
1996........................................................................ 9-0-0
1997........................................................................ 9-0-0
1999........................................................................ 6-0-0
2003........................................................................ 4-0-0
2006........................................................................ 3-0-0
2014........................................................................ 4-0-0

4-0-0 STARTS
The Aggies are looking for their sixth 4-0-0 start in school history. In 2014, Texas A&M started the season 4-0-0, the first time starting the season with four consecutive wins since the 2003 campaign. The Aggies' best start is 9-0-0, a feat they accomplished in both 1996 and 1997. The Aggies also started 6-0-0 in 1999.

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 61-13-5 over their three years, the fourth-best win total in the nation. Florida State's seniors are 69-7-4, followed by Virginia 66-9-3 and UCLA 62-6-7.

LAST TIME OUT - NORTHWESTERN STATE
The Aggies jumped out to a two goal lead in the first nine minutes of action and coasted to a 3-0 win in their home opener against Northwestern State. Haley Pounds scored the first goal of the match in the fifth minute of play. Ashlynn Harryman boomed a ball into the penalty box from 35 yards. Pounds chested the ball to her feet eight yards out, finding herself in a one-on-one situation with the Lady Demons' goalkeeper. Pounds took one dribble and chipped over the keeper's right shoulder for the 1-0 lead. In the ninth minute, Pounds helped produce another goal sending a ball from the left touchline to Emily Bates, with her back to the goal at the left elbow of the penalty box. Bates one-touched a pass to Mikaela Harvey in the middle of the pitch and she sent a missile in from 25 yards, threading it between the left post and a diving goalkeeper. Janae Cousineau capped off the Aggies' scoring in the 30th minute with her first goal of the season.

SERIES VS. UC IRVINE
A&M owns a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series against UC Irvine. The squads first met in 2004 with the Aggies taking a 3-0 decision in College Station. The teams met in a home-and-home series in 2011 and 2012. The Anteaters prevailed, 1-0, in College Station in 2011 and Texas A&M responded with a 2-1 victory in Irvine in 2012.

SCOUTING UC IRVINE
UC Irvine opened the season with mixed results at home last weekend. The Anteaters dropped the opener against Auburn (1-0) last Friday, but bounced back for a 3-0 win against Idaho State on Monday. Jenny Konishi is the lone Anteater with multiple tallies, notching three points with one goal and one assist. Corey Tobin played all 180 minutes in goal, registering a 1.00 goals-against average.

UC Irvine finished 7-9-3 last season, including a fifth-place finish in the Big West with a 3-4-1 mark. The Anteaters' top returning scorers are Kiana Palacios (4 g, 1 a, 9 pts), Clarissa Robles (0 g, 8 a, 8 pts) and Alex Karlowitsch (1 g, 5 a, 7 pts). Tobin was a reserve in goal last year, playing 192 minutes with four saves and a 1.87 goals-against average. UC Irvine claimed Big West titles in 1997, 2010 and 2011 and made NCAA Championship appearances in 2010 and 2011.

SERIES VS. FLORIDA ATLANTIC
The Aggies won the lone meeting between the two squads, registering a 4-0 win on September 20, 2002. Texas A&M overwhelmed the Owls that day with a 37-3 advantage in shots.

SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC
The Owls started the season with a pair of road victories, opening the year with a 4-1 win at Stetson and triumphing at North Florida, 1-0. Geovana Alves leads the squad with two goals on the year. Goalkeeper Sydney Drinkwater has played all 180 minutes in goal, notching one shutout and registering a 0.50 goals-against average.

Claire Emslie is the leading scorer from a year ago when she paced the team with 13 points on five goals and three assists. Drinkwater played all 1,938 minutes in goal last season, posting 0.98 goals-against average and eight shutouts. Last season, the Owls were 7-9-4 overall and 2-5-3 in Conference USA. Florida Atlantic's finest hour came in 2005 when the Owls went 16-4-1 overall, won the Atlantic Sun regular-season title (9-0-1), claimed the Atlantic Sun tournament title and earned their lone NCAA Championship bid.

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 396-121-29 (.752), 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 (781), Connecticut's Len Tsantiris (526), Florida's Becky Burleigh (437), Santa Clara's Jerry Smith (425) and Randy Waldrum (400), who left Notre Dame in 2014 to become head coach of the Houston Dash of the NWSL.

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.

AGGIES NOTCH THEIR 200th WIN AT ELLIS FIELD
Texas A&M owns a 207-30-6 (.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 107-14-6 (.866) mark on the friendly pitch. Texas A&M is 214-30-6 (.868) all-time in College Station, going 7-0-0 in their one season at Old Tiger Field.

NOTABLE DEBUT FOR HAJDU
Kate Hajdu became just the fourth Aggie freshman to register two goals in a season opener and the first since Allie Bailey tallied two goals in the season debut against Fresno State (W, 4-2). Others to accomplish the feat included Jessica Hamilton in 2000 (5-0 win vs Central Florida) and Michelle Remington in 1998 (5-1 win vs. North Texas).

Aggie Freshmen with Two Goals in a Season Opener
1998 – Michelle Remington (5-1 win vs. North Texas)
2000 – Jessica Hamilton (5-0 win vs Central Florida)
2011 – Allie Bailey (4-2 win vs Fresno State)
2015 – Kate Hajdu (4-2 win at Rice)

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The Aggies' opening day lineup included three freshmen. Rookies getting the starting nod included Emily Bates, Brittany Crabtree and Kate Hajdu. Ally Watt also saw action in the opener.

The home opener also had three freshmen in the starting lineup with Watt taking the place of Crabtree. Rookies Amethyst Kelly, Claudette Lassandro and Kendall Ritchie also saw action in the 3-0 win against Northwestern State.

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 in the season opening weekend. The quartet accounted for four goals and four assists in the 4-2 win over Rice and 3-0 triumph against Northwestern State. Haley Pounds produced six points on the weekend with one goal and four assists. McKayla Paulson notched the first two goals of her career, both in the win at Rice. Mikaela Harvey notched her first career goal in Sunday's triumph. The four sophomores all played at least 140 of the 180 minutes on the weekend with Paulson playing every second of the matches.

POUNDS SETS THE TABLE IN AGGIE OPENER
In the Aggies season opener at Rice, Haley Pounds became the 11th A&M player to record three assists in a game. The feat has been accomplished on 12 occasions with Yvette Okler hitting the mark on two occasions. Kat Krambeer owns the Texas A&M record with four assists against UTSA in 2006. Karlie Mueller was the most recent Aggie to notch three assists, accomplishing the feat in A&M's 8-0 win against Mississippi State in 2013.

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.

Saucier got the nod in the season opener, making three saves in the 4-2 victory. Saucier and true freshman Mia Hummel each played a half as Texas A&M recorded a 3-0 shutout in the home opener against Northwestern State. The Aggie goalkeepers have combined for a 1.00 goals-against average and five saves in 180 minutes of action this season.

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UP NEXT
The Aggies hit the road next Friday as they head to Tallahassee to play the current No. 1 Florida State Seminoles in a 6 pm match.