BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies earned a bid to their 26th consecutive Division I Women’s Soccer Championship the NCAA announced Monday.
Texas A&M garnered the No. 7 seed in the tournament and a first-round bye. The Aggies play their first match of the tournament Friday, April 30 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Maroon & White face the winner of the April 27 first-round match between the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils and the South Florida Bulls.
The Aggies are one of four teams to make it to every NCAA Tournament since 1995. The other schools include North Carolina (1982-2021), Virginia (1994-2021) and Penn State (1995-2021). Texas A&M head coach G Guerrieri and North Carolina’s Anson Dorrance are the only two head coaches to appear in every NCAA Tournament since 1995.
With their first-round bye, Texas A&M will play in the second round of the NCAA Championship for the 23rd consecutive season. They own the third-longest active streak behind only North Carolina (39 – also received a first-round bye) and Virginia (26).
Texas A&M is 11-3-0 on the season and the Maroon & White earned a share of their third SEC regular-season title with a 7-1-0 league ledger. In their most recent match, Ol’ Sarge’s charges toppled then-No. 3 TCU, 1-0 at Ellis Field.
The Aggies will face an undefeated opponent in their second-round match.
Central Connecticut State is 7-0-0 on the year with all their matches played against Northeast Conference teams. They ran through the league with a 6-0-0 mark, outscoring opponents, 16-1, and wrapped up the conference’s automatic bid with a 4-0 triumph over Long Island in the championship match.
South Florida finished 9-0-2, including a 6-0-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference. They won the American’s automatic bid by winning the conference tournament with victories against East Carolina (1-0) and Cincinnati (4-0). The Bulls played Florida to a 0-0 draw on February 27.
This marks just the second time since 2010 that the Aggies open NCAA Championship play away from Ellis Field. This season every tournament game will be played in the state of North Carolina with the Elite Eight and College Cup games all played in Cary.