G Guerrieri prepares to lead A&M back into the NCAA Tournament

Texas A&M Soccer Coach G Guerrieri

On the team's performance at the SEC tournament…

“I think it was really good. If you had said that the No. 6 seed was going to get to the final and push the No. 5 team in the country the way that we did — and really I thought that in the lead up to the championship game, you know, the quarterfinal match against an Ole Miss team who had beaten us here was a pretty good indicator of number one, the coachability of the team, but also our ability to bounce back from a tough loss at home to really dominate and play the game the way we wanted to play it. So, the 2-0 game there and the two goals by freshmen was awesome.

"Going in and then taking care of business against LSU was exactly what we had hoped for. We knew that it was going to be a challenge because they keep so many people behind the ball and they were tired, so they were really going to keep a lot of people behind the ball. So, for us to get the winner there from Emily was awesome. Then, the goal that we got to go ahead was as good as any goal a lot of people can remember Texas A&M scoring. Really well-conceived and they made it look really, really simple in the way they finished.

"So, we gave up two goals on well-taken free kicks that we were an inch here, an inch there. Goalkeeper didn’t really see it until it was already past her on the shot by Westphal, but you have to give a lot of credit to Florida. I mean, they are a really good team. So, it’s something that I think we can really hang our hat on, we continue to improve, we continue to do well and now we’ve advanced to our 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament — of which we are one of only five teams that have done that. So, the consistency of the program is something that obviously I am proud of.

"The fact that we got ourselves to the SEC championship game was really nice; obviously we intended to win it. So, we are a little disappointed about that, but I think we come out of it feeling pretty good about ourselves.”
 

On the health of the team after this week…

“Well we’ve been knocked around pretty good. You know, at one point, three out of the four of our starting backs have been out. Even this past weekend, you had Karlie who was out at one point and was playing injured on Sunday. We had McKayla Paulson who got knocked out of the game and couldn’t play in the championship, so Margaret Schmidt came in and I thought she did awesome. Then, we had Kendall Richie playing out on the left side. So, that’s a pretty new type of lineup.

"Dani Rice, I thought, had a really, really good tournament. She’s done really well for us. That was her first appearance in postseason play besides being a starter for thirty-something games at Creighton for her first two years. So, we bounced back. You know, we didn’t play Janae Cousineau more than fifteen minutes the whole tournament, hopefully we will have her as an option going into the NCAA’s.”
 

On Mikaela Harvey, Ally Watt and Emily Bates making the all-tournament team…

“It’s pretty cool, two freshmen and a sophomore. You know, had we gotten a fourth person on it, I would have figured that it would’ve been Stephanie Malherbe. Stephanie really played great in the midfield and she’s played so many different roles for us, but now we moved her into the middle and it’s a really good fit for her. She does really well with Miki in possession, they defend well together, I mean she’s a terrier. So, she’s done really, really well. Her fitness rate is fantastic. So, she had a great tournament and those three were just phenomenal.”
 

On the mentality of the team going into the NCAA Tournament…

“Well, it’s 'put everything into it.' It’s the first weekend. It’s a one-game weekend and it could be one game and we’re done if we don’t take care of business. So, Washington comes in that is representing the Pac-12, arguably one of the top leagues in the country year in and year out. You know, they’ve gotten some big wins. They beat Cal who is a seeded team, they beat SC who is a seeded team, they beat UCLA, which is no small accomplishment. So, we know we will have our hands full with them.

"They play a style that is kind of conducive to what we do, so it should be a really attractive game for the fans that come out. It’s not going to be like some of the really direct, physical, brutal games that we’ve seen at different times of the year. So, I think for us it’s a good matchup — it’s a matchup that we are excited about and obviously you know our team is really excited about getting to play at home.”