Match Day Preview: Mississippi State

Friday, October 2

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Buy Tickets

Sep 30, 2015 | Soccer

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies look to get back in the SEC title hunt as they host the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday evening. The Aggies stand in a tie for fifth place in the league table, six points behind first-place South Carolina. The Maroon and White are looking to rebound after dropping back-to-back games for the first time since 2011 and consecutive league games for the first time since 2008. A&M faces a Mississippi State squad enjoying their best start in over a decade. The Bulldog' 1-1-2 SEC mark is their best league start since 2001.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's match is 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. The match may be heard on Fusion FM - HD2 on HD radio at 95.1-2 FM locally.

MAKING ELLIS FIELD A FORTRESS
Texas A&M owns a 212-30-6 (.867) 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 112-14-6 (.871) mark on the friendly pitch. Texas A&M is 219-30-6 (.871) all-time in College Station, going 7-0-0 in their one season at Old Tiger Field.

WEAPONS UPON WEAPONS
Texas A&M boasts one of the largest caches of offensive weapons in the nation. Among SEC teams, the Aggies are the lone squad to boast more than five players with three or more goals and they are one of only SEC three teams sporting six players with two or more goals, along with Kentucky and Tennessee. Haley Pounds (8), Mikaela Harvey (4), Emily Bates (3), Kate Hajdu (3), Janae Cousineau (3) and McKayla Paulson (2) all have multiple goals on the year. Kentucky and Tennessee both have five players with multiple goals on the year.

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 403-124-29 (.751), he ranks fifth in victories and 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 (789), Connecticut's Len Tsantiris (534), Florida's Becky Burleigh (444) and Santa Clara's Jerry Smith (431).

CREAM OF THE SEC CROP
Since Texas A&M's entrance in the SEC in 2012, the Aggies and Florida own the best winning percentage in league play at .795. Texas A&M owns a 30-7-2 mark and the 30 wins are just one shy of Florida (31-8). Kentucky is the only other team in the league to log more than 20 wins in SEC play from 2012-15, going 26-12-1.

Texas A&M and Florida have accounted for all of the regular-season and tournament titles the last three years. In 2012, Florida won the regular-season title by a two-point edge (33-31) and claimed the tournament crown. In 2013, the teams were co-champions identical 9-2-0 records in SEC play, but the Aggies prevailed over the Gators in the SEC Tournament championship game, 2-1. Last season, Texas A&M edged out Florida by one point for the regular-season title (28-27) and completed their second consecutive SEC Double with a 1-0 win over Kentucky in the tournament title match.

LAST TIME OUT - GEORGIA
The Aggies were doomed by a pair of corner kick goals in the first half and were unable to dig out of the deficit in a 2-1 loss to Georgia. Haley Pounds was able to score a second half goal, but the Maroon and White were unable to net an equalizer despite getting 11 shots off. It marked the first time the Aggies have lost back-to-back SEC matches.

SERIES VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
The Aggies are 3-0-0 all-time against Mississippi State, outscoring the Bulldogs 13-0. Last season, A&M was victorious in Starkville, 3-0, with goals by Bianca Brinson, Kelley Monogue and Janae Cousineau. The Aggies won the last meeting in College Station, 8-0, highlighted by two goals apiece by Shea Groom and Meghan Streight.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
The Bulldogs have regrouped after an 0-4-0 start, going 3-1-3 in the last seven matches with four shutouts. Mississippi State's 2-1 win over Arkansas on September 20 was their first SEC win since 2012. The Bulldogs also have wins over Nicholls State (4-0) and Lipscomb (2-0) and ties against Southern Miss (0-0), Tennessee (0-0) and Missouri (1-1).

Kiley Martens leads the team with eight points on four goals. Mallory Eubanks has six points with two goals and two assists and Kennadi Carbin has five points on two goals and one assist. Tanya de Souza has played 1,018 of 1,050 minutes in goal, posting a 1.06 goals-against average, 41 saves and three 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 12 games, the same 11 returnees have already notched 19 goals and 13 assists (51 points).

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.

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 squad with nine starts and Kate Hajdu and Ally Watt have eight starts apiece. Brittany Crabtree has received the starting assignment on seven occasions. 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 and Bates earned the honor for the fourth week of action. Bates ranks second on the team with 11 points on three goals and five assists. Hajdu has three goals and two assists. Crabtree has one goal and one assist and Lassandro has one goal on the season.

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 12 games of the season. The quartet accounted for 15 goals and nine assists for 39 points through the first six weekends. Haley Pounds has produced 20 points with eight 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 four of the last 11 contests. McKayla Paulson notched the first two goals of her career, both in the win at Rice, and added 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 two assists. The four sophomores all played at least 900 of the 1,099 minutes on the season with Paulson playing every second of the matches.

PAULSON EARNS EARLY IRONMAN HONORS
Defender McKayla Paulson leads the Aggies in minutes played, working the entirety of the first 12 matches for 1,099 minutes of play. Grace Wright (1,080), Haley Pounds (1,034), Ashlynn Harryman (1,023), Mikaela Harvey (1,016) and Karlie Mueller (1,000) are all averaging over 80 minutes per match.

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 68-16-5 over their four years, the third-best win total in the nation. Florida State's seniors are 74-8-5, followed by Virginia 72-10-4.

NIP-AND-TUCK
Over the last three seasons, the Aggies are 24-6-4 in games decided by one game or less. This season, the Maroon and White are 3-2-0 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.

FOLLOW @AGGIESOCCER ON TWITTER
Not following @AggieSoccer on Twitter? Sign up or sign in now to find out what's happening. You'll stay up-to-date on the latest news and receive live in-game updates at each and every match.

UP NEXT
The Aggies return home for a match against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Ellis Field on October 9.