COLLEGE STATION, Texas – As has become a custom, the SEC regular-season title will come down to the final day with Texas A&M’s 7 pm match against the Georgia Bulldogs at Ellis Field on Thursday playing a pivotal role in deciding the titleholders.
The Aggies enter the regular-season finale with a one-point lead over Florida in the SEC standings. Florida hosts Vanderbilt in a 6 pm contest on Thursday.
If Florida loses, the Aggies would win an outright SEC regular-season title regardless of the outcome of their match. If Florida ties, the Aggies would win an outright title with a win or a tie and A&M would share the title with a loss. If Florida wins, the Aggies need a win to capture an outright title and an A&M loss or tie would give the Gators an outright title. If the squads are tied for first place, Florida would receive the No. 1 seed at the SEC Tournament due to their win in the face-to-face matchup.
WINNING
The Aggies are guaranteed they will finish the season with a winning record. A&M has finished with a winning record in all of its previous 21 seasons. The closest the Aggies have finished to the .500 mark is the 14-8 (.636) record they posted in 1998.
CONFERENCE WINNING
The Aggies are guaranteed they will finish the conference slate with a winning record. A&M has finished with a winning record in league play in all 18 of the previous years it was aligned with a conference. The closest the Aggies have finished to the .500 mark in league play is the 5-3-2 (.600) record they posted in Big 12 play in 2003. In 18 previous seasons of league action, A&M has finished first or second in the conference standings on 16 occasions with the other finishes coming in 1998 (3rd Big 12 – 7-2) and 2003 (5th Big 12 – 5-3-2).
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Live stats for Thursday’s matches will be on 12thMan.com. The match will also have video streaming available to SEC Network subscribers via SEC Network Plus as part of the WatchESPN app and ESPN3.com. The match will be aired on RadioAggieland and 12thMan.com.
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WHERE ARE THE AGGIES RANKED?
In week 10, A&M is ranked No. 7 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Continental Tire poll, down one spot from a week ago. The Aggies are No. 9 in the Soccer America Top 25, No. 6 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25 and No. 8 in the BennettRank poll.
LAST TIME OUT – SOUTH CAROLINA
The Aggies were one minute away from securing a share of the SEC regular-season title, but South Carolina’s Stevi Parker found the back of the net with a low driving shot from 20 yards to tie the match at 2-2 in the beginning of the 90th minute. Neither team was able to score in overtime and the match ended in a draw. A&M got goals from Janae Cousineau in the 44th minute to tie the game at 1-1 and a go-ahead goal 13 seconds into the second half by Kelley Monogue.
AGGIES NOTCH THEIR 200th WIN AT ELLIS FIELD
With their 2-1 win over Kentucky, the Aggies notched their 200th win at Ellis Field. Texas A&M owns a 201-30-6 (.861) 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 101-14-6 (.860) mark on the friendly pitch. Texas A&M is 208-30-6 (.865) all-time in College Station, going 7-0-0 in their one season at Old Tiger Field.
TICKET INFORMATION
Season and individual tickets for the 2014 home season are now for sale. To purchase tickets, please contact the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Center at tickets.12thManFoundation.com, 979-845-2311 or toll free at 1-888-99-AGGIE. Tickets are also available in person beginning one hour before the match at Ellis Field.
AGGIES LOOK TO EXTEND 15-WIN SEASON STRETCH TO 11 YEARS
With their 18-5-2 mark last season, the Aggies posted their 10th consecutive 15-win season dating back to 2004. In their first 21 seasons, the only two years the Aggies have not reached the 15-win plateau are 1998 (14-8) and 2003 (13-6-3). The school record for victories stands at 20, set in 2002 with a 20-5-1 mark.
MONOGUE CLIMBING THE CAREER POINTS LIST
Kelley Monogue currently ranks fifth on the Aggies’ career points list with 113. Against LSU, Monogue scored a goal to pass Kristen Strutz (104 – 2000-03) for fifth place on the list. She has a bit of work to do to catch Nicky Thrasher (140 – 1997-2001) for fourth place on the list. Ashlee Pistorius (2004-07) owns the school record with 194 points followed by Bryn Blalack (1994-197) with 192. During her healthiest campaign, Monogue logged 47 points as a freshman in 2011. Recovering from a knee injury in 2012, the McKinney, Texas native logged 20 points. Last season, she registered 17 points as she still felt the effects of the earlier ailment.
MONOGUE CLIMBING THE CAREER GOALS LIST
With her goal against Illinois State, Kelley Monogue became the fifth player in school history to log 40 career goals. She is now up to 46 goals at Texas A&M. The McKinney native trails only Ashlee Pistorius (81 – 2004-07), Bryn Blalack (79 – 1994-97), Nicky Thrasher (57 – 1997-2001) and Kristen Koop (55 – 1993-96). Monogue was A&M’s leading goal scorer as a freshman with 19 tallies in 2011. She added 10 in 2012 and six in 2013.
GROOM AND KUNZ CLIMBING THE CAREER GOALS LIST
Shea Groom and Annie Kunz enter play with 37 career goals apiece, tied with Heather Ragsdale for seventh place on A&M’s all-time list. The next target on the list for the duo is Melissa Garey (2004-07) in sixth place with 39 goals. Kunz tallied 14 goals as a freshman and 13 as a sophomore. Hampered by an injury that held her out of four games and limited her to a reserve role most of the 2013 campaign, Kunz managed just five goals in 2013. Groom was limited by injury in her freshman campaign, with six goals in just 10 matches and added five as a sophomore, but she’s come on strong the last two seasons with 14 goals in 2013 and eight this year.
SERIES VS. GEORGIA
The Aggies are 2-0-0 all-time against the Bulldogs with both matches coming since A&M joined the SEC in 2012.
Both wins were narrow for the Aggies, winning a home match, in overtime, 1-0, in 2012 and posting a 2-1 win in Athens last season. Last year, Allie Bailey and Liz Keester took turn assisting the others scoring a goal with Keester scoring in the sixth minute and Bailey notching a goal in the 64th minute.
SCOUTING GEORGIA
Georgia enters Friday’s match with a 10-5-1 overall mark and sit in fifth place in the SEC with a 5-4-1 mark. The Bulldogs started the season 9-2-0, but Georgia has lost three of their last four matches, getting shutout in all three losses.
The Bulldogs non-conference wins came against UNC Greensboro (3-0), Cal State Fullerton (2-1 – ot), Houston (4-0), UCF (1-0) and Furman (4-0) and the loss came against Long Beach State (3-2). Georgia’s SEC wins came against Vanderbilt (3-1), South Carolina (1-0), Tennessee (2-1), Mississippi State (3-1) and LSU (2-0) with a draw against Ole Miss (1-1) and losses to Missouri (2-0), Alabama (2-0) and Kentucky (2-0).
Georgia has four players with double digits in the points column. Gabby Seiler leads the team with 26 points on nine goals and eight assists. Rachel Garcia has 14 points with four goals and six assists. Marion Crowder has tallied 13 with six goals and one assist. Kelsey Killean has 11 points with three goals and five assists.
Georgia has eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including three in the last six seasons. There best showing came in 1998 when the Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16.
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 386-120-29 (.749), he ranks fifth in victories and sixth in 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 (775), Connecticut’s Len Tsantiris (521), Florida’s Becky Burleigh (430), Santa Clara’s Jerry Smith (420) and Randy Waldrum (400), who left Notre Dame in the off-season to become head coach of the Houston Dash of the NWSL.
CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The non-conference slate was one of the toughest on record for the Aggies. All eight opponents finished in the Top 100 in the final RPI last season, with Arizona being the lowest rated team at 83. Marquette (6), UCF (13), Stephen F Austin (51), Arizona State (60), Illinois State (66), Florida Gulf Coast (67), Dayton (70) and Arizona finished last season with an average RPI of 52 compared to last year’s eight non-conference opponents owning an average RPI of 101.
FACING CHAMPIONS
Texas A&M’s non-conference schedule was challenging with six of the eight opponents having won their league’s regular-season title in 2013. The Aggies went 6-0 against the champions, outscoring the crop, 17-5. The defending league champions on the non-conference slate included Dayton (Atlantic 10), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), UCF (The American), Illinois State (Missouri Valley), FGCU (Atlantic Sun) and Marquette (Big East). All six teams were selected to repeat as 2014 champions in their league’s respective preseason coaches’ polls. The two non-conference opponents who did not win conference titles last year are Arizona and Arizona State, who both finished in the middle of the powerhouse Pac 12 Conference that produced national champion UCLA.