Texas A&M made the tournament. All the hoping, praying and hand-wringing paid off. Now we get to focus on the game before us rather than our resume. And the opponent that's been served to Texas A&M is TCU.
TCU earned their first ever NCAA Tournament berth (A&M is at 22 and counting) and will host the Aggies on Saturday night at 7:00PM. As the host, TCU got to choose the kickoff time. I don't think it's a coincidence that they waited to kickoff until the A&M Football game kicked off. It's a strategic move to ensure the Aggie turnout is minimal.
TCU finished the season 12-6-2 overall and carried a dismal 2-5-1 conference record into the Big 12 tournament. The Horned Frogs went 2-1 in the tournament and pushed #1 West Virginia to overtime in the championship game. TCU is definitely coming on strong as they've won 4 of their last 5 matches, but they are one of the less impressive at-large teams to make the field (as if A&M has any room to talk).
The only common opponent A&M and TCU share is Illinois. TCU defeated Illinois 2-1 at home and A&M beat then 2-0 at home. TCU has an RPI of #34 (A&M is #57).
Overall, TCU has outscored opponents by a 37-22 mark (A&M's goal differential is 26-19). Scoring has been led by junior forward Allison Ganter's (#11) 9 goals. Ganter has come off the bench to help TCU in a big way with 4 gamewinners. Her shot selection has been pretty efficient as she's totaled 21 shots and 16 shots on goal in her 907 minutes of play. Ganter also has 3 assists.
Senior forward Michelle Prokof (#10) has contributed 6 goals and 5 assists this season. Prokof was named to the All-Big 12 second-team.
Junior forward Emma Heckendorn (#22) is the only Big 12 first-teamer for the Horned Frogs. She led the team with 9 assists and 50 shots. She also has 3 goals.on the season.
Freshman Katie Lund (#24) began the season splitting time in goal, but seized the full-time gig halfway through the season. Lund has accounted for 59 saves while allowing 18 goals. Her goal against average is 1.22. In total, TCU has 8 shutouts on the season and have been shutout themselves 4 times.
A&M has faced TCU 10 times and won all 10 matches. Somewhat surprisingly, the last meeting between these two teams was way back in 2005. This is a great way to renew the series.
There are some similarities between these two teams starting with the mid-season conference slumps, continuing with a late season surge and closing with the narrow loss to a #1 seed in the conference tournament.
It should be a good matchup and one that A&M can certainly win. I like our chances to advance to Southern Cal.
TCU earned their first ever NCAA Tournament berth (A&M is at 22 and counting) and will host the Aggies on Saturday night at 7:00PM. As the host, TCU got to choose the kickoff time. I don't think it's a coincidence that they waited to kickoff until the A&M Football game kicked off. It's a strategic move to ensure the Aggie turnout is minimal.
TCU finished the season 12-6-2 overall and carried a dismal 2-5-1 conference record into the Big 12 tournament. The Horned Frogs went 2-1 in the tournament and pushed #1 West Virginia to overtime in the championship game. TCU is definitely coming on strong as they've won 4 of their last 5 matches, but they are one of the less impressive at-large teams to make the field (as if A&M has any room to talk).
The only common opponent A&M and TCU share is Illinois. TCU defeated Illinois 2-1 at home and A&M beat then 2-0 at home. TCU has an RPI of #34 (A&M is #57).
Overall, TCU has outscored opponents by a 37-22 mark (A&M's goal differential is 26-19). Scoring has been led by junior forward Allison Ganter's (#11) 9 goals. Ganter has come off the bench to help TCU in a big way with 4 gamewinners. Her shot selection has been pretty efficient as she's totaled 21 shots and 16 shots on goal in her 907 minutes of play. Ganter also has 3 assists.
Senior forward Michelle Prokof (#10) has contributed 6 goals and 5 assists this season. Prokof was named to the All-Big 12 second-team.
Junior forward Emma Heckendorn (#22) is the only Big 12 first-teamer for the Horned Frogs. She led the team with 9 assists and 50 shots. She also has 3 goals.on the season.
Freshman Katie Lund (#24) began the season splitting time in goal, but seized the full-time gig halfway through the season. Lund has accounted for 59 saves while allowing 18 goals. Her goal against average is 1.22. In total, TCU has 8 shutouts on the season and have been shutout themselves 4 times.
A&M has faced TCU 10 times and won all 10 matches. Somewhat surprisingly, the last meeting between these two teams was way back in 2005. This is a great way to renew the series.
There are some similarities between these two teams starting with the mid-season conference slumps, continuing with a late season surge and closing with the narrow loss to a #1 seed in the conference tournament.
It should be a good matchup and one that A&M can certainly win. I like our chances to advance to Southern Cal.
