A&M Heads to Buckeye State for Sunday Matinee at Dayton

Sunday, September 13

Dayton, Ohio

12:00 PM

Texas A&M

Dayton

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 11, 2015 | Soccer

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Fresh off a road win over No. 10 Florida to open SEC action, the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies head to Ohio for a Sunday matinee against the Dayton Flyers. The squads face off in a 12 pm (CT) contest at Baujan Field.

The Maroon and White play the Flyers in a return match of last year's 4-3 barnburner that Texas A&M won with a goal by Shea Groom in the 83^rd minute. With a victory on Sunday, head coach G Guerrieri will pass Randy Waldrum for sole possession of fifth place on the NCAA Division I all-time wins list. Guerrieri picked up win 400 in the Aggies' 2-1 victory at No. 10 Florida in Thursday's SEC opener.

BIG-GAME BATES
Emily Bates has drawn first blood in two of Texas A&M's biggest games early in the 2015 campaign. The mercurial freshman scored the opening goals in the Aggies' 3-1 loss at No. 5 Florida State on September 4 and 2-1 victory at No. 10 Florida on September 10. In the loss to the Seminoles, Bates scored a goal from 35 yards out in the 22nd minute. The rookie chased down an errant pass by Florida State's midfield and looped a long-distance shot over the Seminoles' goalkeeper playing well off her line. Against the Gators, Bates tallied the opening marker in the seventh minute, knocking a header over the outstretched mitts of Florida goalkeeper. Her first career goal came in the 68th minute against Florida Atlantic, with Texas A&M in need of a goal to break a scoreless draw.

GUERRIERI NETS WIN 400
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 400-122-29 (.752), 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 North Carolina's Anson Dorrance (784), Connecticut's Len Tsantiris (530), Florida's Becky Burleigh (440) and Santa Clara's Jerry Smith (427).

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Sunday's match is available on Atlantic.com which offers a 24-hour subscription for $6.95. It can be heard on 12thMan.com, RadioAggieland.com and the RadioAggieland app. Sunday's match may be heard on Fusion FM - HD2 on HD radio at 95.1-2 FM locally.

SEC OPENERS
With Thursday's victory at No. 10 Florida, the Aggies are 3-1-0 all-time in SEC openers. Texas A&M has opened the SEC slate on the road twice, winning their first-ever SEC league game 1-0 at LSU in 2012, but dropping a 2-1 decision at Tennessee in 2013. Last season, Shea Groom netted a hat trick as the Aggies started the season with a 3-0 victory over the Volunteers at Ellis Field.

TEXAS A&M'S SEC OPENERS
2012           W, 1-0         at LSU
2013           L, 1-2           at Tennessee
2014           W, 3-0         TENNESSEE
2015           W, 2-1         at Florida

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 65-14-5 over their four years, the third-best win total in the nation. Florida State's seniors are 71-8-4, followed by Virginia 69-9-4.

LAST TIME OUT - FLORIDA
The Aggies snapped No. 10 Florida's 15-match home win streak with a 2-1 win on Thursday. The Maroon and White drew first blood with a goal in the seventh minute when Emily Bates ottered a header past the mitts of Florida's goalkeeper at the penalty spot on a 40-yard free kick from Ashlynn Harryman. In the 52nd minute, Stephanie Malherbe added an important insurance goal, putting home a carom off a saved shot by Brittany Crabtree. The Gators broke the scoring seal in the 77th minute when Savannah Jordan scored on a header from two yards out.

SERIES VS. DAYTON
Texas A&M won the only prior meeting between the two teams last season at Ellis Field. The Aggies got a goal from Shea Groom, heading in a corner kick from Kelley Monogue, in the 83rd minute to claim a 4-3 victory in the season opener. A&M took a 3-1 lead in the 56th minute with one goal by Bianca Brinson and two goals by Monogue. Dayton got two goals in a span of 19 seconds in the 82nd minute to tie the game at 3-3. Nicole Watters scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Flyers.

SCOUTING DAYTON
It's been a hard-luck season early on for the Flyers. Dayton has started the season with a 0-5-0 record with four of the losses decided by just one goal heading into their match against Rice on Friday. The Flyers have been outscored 9-3 on the season with Nicole Waters, Ashley Campbell and Libby Leedom each notching a goal. True freshman Kaelyn Johns has played all 452 minutes in goal for Dayton, notching a 1.79 goals-against average.

Last season, Dayton finished 12-9-2 overall and placed third in the Atlantic 10 with a 5-2-1 record. Campbell is the top returning player from last year's squad. She tallied 38 points on 16 goals and six assists in 2014 to earn NSCAA All-Region and All-Atlantic 10 First Team recognition. Waters tallied 34 points on eight goals and 18 assists last season to earn recognition as Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year and All-Atlantic 10 First Team.

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 seven games, the same 11 returnees have notched 13 goals and nine assists (35 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 and Kate Hajdu have both started all seven matches. Ally Watt has five starts and Brittany Crabtree has received the starting assignment twice. Mia Hummel, Amethyst Kelly, Claudette Lassandro, Kendall Ritchie and Margaret Schmidt have all seen relief action.

Hajdu was named the SEC Freshman of the Week the opening weekend. Bates and Hajdu each have eight points on the season. Bates has three goals and a team-high four assists. Hajdu has three goals and two assists. Claudette Lassandro has one goal on the season and Brittany Crabtree has added an assist.

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 first seven games of the season. The quartet accounted for 12 goals and six assists for 30 points through the first seven matches. Haley Pounds has produced five 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. McKayla Paulson notched the first two goals of her career, both in the win at Rice, and added an assist against UC Irvine. After going without a goal in her first 22 career matches, Mikaela Harvey has scored a goal in four of the last six contests. Stephanie Malherbe netted her first career goal at Florida and also has an assist on the year. The four sophomores all played at least 530 of the 630 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 1.00 goals-against average and three shutouts. Saucier has started all seven contests, logging 541 minutes. She owns a 1.16 goals-against average, 19 saves and one shutout. Saucier's goals-against average when PKs are taken out of the equation, stands at 0.83. Mia Hummel has seen action in three matches, playing 89 minutes off the bench. She has yet to yield a goal making four saves. The pair combined to record shutouts against Northwestern State and UC Irvine.

MUELLER AMONG ACTIVE LEADERS IN GAMES PLAYED
Texas A&M senior Karlie Mueller ranks 10th in the nation and second among SEC players in career matches played with 75 caps. She trails on Florida's Christen Westphal (78) among SEC players. Mueller has made 63 career starts and owns 16 career assists, including 10 as a sophomore in 2013.

PAULSON AND WRIGHT EARN EARLY IRONMAN HONORS
Defenders McKayla Paulson and Grace Wright lead the team in minutes played, playing the entirety of the first seven matches for 630 minutes of play. Emily Bates (590), Kate Hajdu (568) and Haley Pounds (565) are all averaging over 80 minutes per contest.

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UP NEXT
The Aggies return home to Ellis Field on Friday, September 20 for a 6 pm match against the Vanderbilt Commodores.