News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
COLUMBIA – The Texas A&M soccer team opens SEC play with one of its most-played rivalries when the Maroon & White travel to Missouri for Thursday’s 7 p.m. match at Walton Soccer Stadium.
The Aggies and Tigers have met 28 times with the total trailing just the 29 matches against the Texas Longhorns in A&M annals. The Maroon & White boast an 18-6-4 edge in the all-time series against Missouri. Texas A&M (5-3-0) thumped Mizzou twice in the 2017 campaign, including 5-1 in the regular-season and 7-1 in the SEC Tournament, but other than that the matches have been tight since the squads joined the SEC for the 2012 season. As SEC brethren, the Aggies own a 5-1-3 edge in the series, but six of the nine matches have been decided by one goal or less.
A victory would make Texas A&M the 13th Division I program to reach the 500-win plateau. The Aggies would become the first SEC and Lone Star State team to hit the mark.
Both squads are licking their wounds after losses on Sunday. Texas A&M dropped a 6-0 decision at UConn while Missouri was on the wrong end of 7-0 score at Duke.
Sydney Becerra leads the Aggies with seven points on three goals and one assist. MaKhiya McDonald, Mia Pante and Taylor Pounds each have five points with two goals and one assist. The Aggies own a 1.25 goals-against average, with a 0.00 mark in the five shutout wins and a 3.33 ledger in the three losses.
The Aggies enter play with the SEC’s second-best all-time winning percentage in league games at .676, trailing just Florida (.741). The Maroon & White have begun catching teams on the league’s all-time conference wins list in just their 13th season as a member. With 78 wins under their belt, the Aggies have already passed 30-year league member Mississippi State (60 SEC).
Missouri enters the fray with a 2-4-1 mark with wins over Missouri State (2-0) and Southeast Missouri (5-0). Three of the Tigers’ losses have come to ranked teams, including No. 10 Memphis (2-0), No. 23 Saint Louis (2-0) and No. 8 Duke. The other loss came at Miami (2-1) with a tie at Illinois (1-1). Missouri experienced an extremely unlucky 2023 SEC campaign, finishing 1-8-1 with all 10 matches decided by one goal or less.
Milena Fischer is Missouri’s lone multiple-goal scorer with two. Kylee Simmons has five points with one goal and three assists. Bella Hollenbach’s goals-against average was knocked out of whack in the loss against Duke. She enters play with a 2.13 goals-against average in seven starts with the Duke match factored in and 1.15 without it.
The match will be televised on SEC Network with Alex Perlman (play-by-play) and Marion Crowder (color) painting the picture. A radio call of the match airs on Gospel 97.3 FM in the Brazos Valley with the audio also available in the 12th Man Mobile app.