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Texas A&M Soccer

G Guerrieri breaks down the early going for Aggie Soccer

September 1, 2016
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On the start of the 2016 season...

"We've had an exceptional schedule so far. We have played two, probably, top five of the most talented teams in the country with No.1 Florida State to open the season, then UCLA last Friday night, and then two other teams that are going to be vying for conference championships in Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference. I think we've had good tests. The fact that we won comfortably on Sundays and that we, unfortunately, ran out of time on two Friday nights gives us a lot that we can look at and see as far as a report card on our first tests of the season; what we have to do better, how we have to finish our chances. I thought that even though Florida State is an awesome team and even though UCLA is a very talented team as well, we had chances to definitely draw those games but could have won those games if we had finished our chances.

On Haley Pounds and who else is standing out...

"There have been a lot of stand outs. I think with Haley, Haley has a very professional demeanor to the way she goes about life. She doesn't put less than 100% into anything she does. Whether it's in the classroom, with her friends, or out here with us. The focus that she has is contagious. She's a very dangerous player setting up people. She puts people in good dangerous positions for assists. She has been able to finish off a good few chances too. She gives us a really lethal tip to the sword. Same thing with Emily Bates, who's finally feeling well after really being injured the whole last half of last Fall and all of the Spring. It's great to see her with a bounce to her step again. She's come so close to scoring some really important goals. I think she's about to breakthrough and really start to hit the back of the net.

On Ally Watts joining the U20 Women's National Team Camp...

"She's at training camp right now vying for one of those spots to go to Papua New Guinea. We have a team that has never been based around one or two individuals. I think, for her, if she's chosen for the final team to go to the World Cup, I think it will be a fantastic experience for her. I think it will be something that will come back to benefit Texas A&M. If you think about it: Would we rather have her right now as a sophomore coming off of really not being able to play last Spring? Or, would we rather have her in four years as a fifth year senior when she's going to be incredibly seasoned and incredibly dangerous? If we can't have both, we would rather have a really, really dangerous senior. In the meantime, it's an opportunity for other people to step in and make their case for playing time and for scoring goals.

On growth in the team...

"I think Dani Rice in goal has been great. Since the time when she transferred here from Creighton to now, she has come light-years. She's a fantastic person. She never gives less than 100%. She's a team player all the way. She's been the most improved, which has just been extraordinary. But I think every single player has gotten better. Cienna Arrieta, a freshman, came in last Spring. She had a lot of physical issues that we had to take care of. She was not even really able to play in our Spring season. She has come a long, long way and she's been dynamite and has scored a couple goals already. Mikaela Harvey continues to progress and she's already one of the best players in the United States and she gets better and better every single game. Same thing can be said for Grace Piper, who's playing right behind her. I don't think anyone really knew who Grace Piper was when she came in. With Stephanie Malherbe out for a little while, Grace has stepped into that role and has played really fantastic. There's been a lot of really pleasant, I don't know if we would call them surprises, but really pleasant performances by some of the younger players.

On how the team is preparing for their match-up against Little Rock and Illinois this weekend...

"Winning. We are working on winning. That's the whole thing for both of these games. Style points don't matter. We want to win with style if we can, but we want to win however we can. Little Rock will come in here and try to frustrate us. They'll play a lot of people behind the ball. They'll try to do what they did to Memphis about a week ago. Memphis has already beaten Ole Miss in our league. Basically, they kept a lot of people behind it. They scored on a penalty kick, they scored on a corner kick, and then just defended for dear life. We know that's probably what we're going to see from them on Friday night so we have to finish our chances. That's an important part of our game plan all the time. University of Illinois comes in with Big 10 talent. Janet Rayfield, who's their coach, coaches the Under-23's. Janet and I go back 40 years from both of us growing up in Dallas, her going on and being a phenomenal player at North Carolina, and then through our coaching careers we have always been close friends and have seen each other in a lot of ways. Her team will come in organized. They have some very dangerous weapons. It's going to be a great challenge. It should be a great game for people to come out. That game starts at 6 o'clock on Sunday. "
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G Guerrieri breaks down the early going for Aggie Soccer

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