G Guerrieri discusses active shutout streak, rematch against No. 10 BYU

Another weekend of play, what did you see out of your girls last weekend against Ohio State and Brown? 

We talked about it - Phil Stephenson who is our Associate Head Coach titled it as “resilient” and that’s what it’s been. We have been very, very resillient. We have shut out our last five opponents. A lot of times they have had scoring opportunities but we haven’t broken, which goes back to that resilliency. Being undefeated after six games is great - we would love to be 6-0-0 instead off having a couple ties but in both of those instances we created a ton of chances. Sunday night against Brown we just weren’t technically-sound enough to put them away. Their goalkeeper played out of her mind which is usually how it happens. It was an exhilirating experience but we would have rather it been an exhillirating experience of them picking it up out of their own net but that wasn’t the way that it was. On Friday a resillient performance - a world class goal from Jimena Lopez. We have to focus on our finishing because we aren’t going to get 21 chances throughout the year like we did on Sunday night. 

After Cosette Morche left last year there was an obvious void at the goalkeeper position but Shantel Hutton has seemed to fit the bill, keeping the shutout streak in tact. 

This is going to sound like coach speak but we honestly have four awesome goalkeepers and the competition amongst them is fantastic. Shantel is on a great run right now and you are going to ride that hot horse. Any of our goalies could play though, especially with the back line in front of them. Those are great athletes. A lot of time it’s just managing situations and cutting them out before they happen. I’m really happy for Shantel, she graduated high school early to give herself a full spring semester training with us and she has done a great job. She’s still improving, the learning curve is still very steep. 

How has your attack changed with Rheagan Smith changing back to forward from defense? 

We recruited Rheagan to be a forward for us. Last year she wasn’t as sharp as we knew she could be, but she worked at it. She was actually sick all spring - she had mono. We were worried about her, she had a tough year having to go through all of that with the season right around the corner. She has recovered well and you can tell how hard she has worked. A couple of goals scored against Abilene Christian were started because of Rheagan. She didn’t score them but she was the one who set them up. That’s a really, really valuable skill that she has. The next thing for her is finishing. Now that people are looking at her can she bury it herself? I know she can but it’s just a matter of her doing it in the game. 

Earlier you touched on Jimena’s finish. How do you think her international experience playing for Mexico has helped her grow as a player? 

It’s been huge. She has earned everything she has gotten. Playing for the World Cup team from Mexico is fantastic. She is a lovely girl who works hard. She is passionate about the game and Texas A&M. Those touches have clearly helped her and rubbed off as she’s our leading scorer. Clearly a massive threat for us going forward. 

This Thursday you hit the road. What do you see from BYU and what are you looking to see from your squad? 

BYU are super talented, they are undefeated and a Top 10 team. They feel like they should have beat us last year so they are super motivated. We are going to have to play against a big, blue crowd. So, all of that and add on the short rest we are going to be playing on. We played on Sunday, day off on Monday, train on Tuesday and travel on Wednesday and play on Thursday. So it’s a quick turnaround and it will be the type of challenge that we have to be able to endure in order for us to reach our goals throughout the season. This should be a good learning experience and a great opportunity for us. To beat them at their place could really benefit us.