Texas A&M
Tennessee
Match Preview: NCAA Championship Sweet Sixteen vs. Tennessee
Nov 17, 2018 | Soccer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies look to advance to their seventh NCAA Championship Elite Eight when they face the #12 Tennessee Volunteers in a third round match Sunday evening at Regal Stadium in Knoxville.
Match time is 4 p.m. Central. The action streams on SEC Network+. The match airs in the Brazos Valley on 102.7 The Zone as well as worldwide on RadioAggieland.
Texas A&M toppled TCU Friday, 2-0, with second-half goals by Ally Watt and Addie McCain to earn the school's 15th Sweet Sixteen spot. The Aggies advanced to the second round for the 21st consecutive season when they posted a 1-0 victory against North Texas two Fridays ago on Watt's 109th-minute goal. The Maroon & White enter play with a 17-4-1 mark.
Tennessee opened the tournament with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Louisville. In the second round, the Volunteers scored the game-winner in the 90th minute to beat Arizona, 3-2. Tennessee led 2-0 before yielding a pair of Wildcat goals in the final 12 minutes of the match. The Volunteers are 15-2-3 overall.
The Aggies are playing in their 24th consecutive NCAA Division I championship, one of four teams to play in each tournament since 1995. The other schools to make every tournament since 1995 are North Carolina (1982-2018), Virginia (1994-2018) and Penn State (1995-2017). Texas A&M is 37-21-7 (.617) all-time in the NCAA Championship. The Aggies advanced to the Elite Eight in 2001, '02, '06, 08, '14 and '15.
Cosette Morché has two shutouts in NCAA Championship play this season and three for her career, including last year's 1-0 victory over Lamar. Morché has 12 shutouts this season, two off the school record set by Jordan Day in 2012.
Watt has 15 goals on the season and she notched the ice breaker in an incredible 10 matches in 2018, including a 99th-minute goal in the regular-season finale against South Carolina and a 109th-minute goal in the NCAA first round victory against North Texas. For her career, Watt has 33 goals and she will crack the Aggies' career top 10 with her next tally.
The Volunteers are the only team in the SEC against which the Aggies have a losing record. Tennessee owns a 5-1-0 edge in the all-time series. Earlier this season, the Volunteers toppled the Aggies at Ellis Field, scoring four goals in a span of 6:12 to win 4-0. In their most recent trip to Regal Stadium, a 2016 match, the Vols claimed a 2-0 victory with Hannah Wilkinson and Anna Bialczak each logging a goal and an assist for Tennessee. Texas A&M's lone win in the series came in 2014 when Shea Groom recorded a hat trick in a 3-0 victory at Ellis Field.
Tennessee enters play with a seven-match unbeaten string, going 5-0-2 over the span. SEC Offensive Player of the Year Bunny Shaw leads Tennessee on the offensive end, scoring 13 goals in just 13 matches. She has added four assists and has seven game-winning goals. Danielle Marcano has chipped in with 18 points on seven goals and four assists. MA Vignola has 11 points on three goals and five assists. Shae Yanez has played 1,864 of 1,884 minutes in goal, logging a 0.63 goals-against average and nine shutouts on the year.
The winner of the match will advance to next weekend's Elite Eight to face either Stanford or Wisconsin with the date and campus site to be determined.
