Battle of the Brazos renews on Friday as Texas A&M travels to Waco

The Battle of the Brazos. 

An age-old rivalry.

Coming off a 3-0 win against Fairfield last weekend, Texas A&M (2-1) hopes to extend its momentum against Baylor (3-1) on Friday.

Facing off in Waco — on the edge of the Brazos River — kickoff is set at 8 p.m. CT.

“We have a team with a lot of experience coming back, and we feel pretty good with a lot of adjustments from the game (against Denver) to the game (against Fairfield) and feel good about going into Waco,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said earlier this week. “It should be a really good game with the Big 12 against the SEC, in the old Battle of Brazos, with the Bears against the Aggies.”

Both sides enter the match with a plethora of energy.

The Bears claimed two wins in Hawaii a week ago, while the Ags registered a clean sheet vs. Fairfield and scored 10 goals in their first three games of 2024.

“You can expect them to be absolutely ready,” Guerrieri said. “It's a big game for them, and we come in with a national ranking. We've got to make sure that the lessons learned and (things) that we did well on Saturday night against (Fairfield), we continue to improve.”

Preparing for Baylor, the Maroon & White are focused on compacting their spaces defensively, transitioning between roles and diversifying shots.

Offensively, A&M’s previous matches have shown their ability to score high-pressure goals from up to 30 yards away, but the Aggies have been lacking tap-ins and simple shots.

“We'd like to score some really easy goals and score some (world-class goals),” Guerrieri said. “That's a big part of what we'll be working on this week. Scoring more in the course of being able to break teams down. To score those simple goals and get our strikers a little bit more into the attack, more so than just our midfielders.”

According to Guerrieri, Baylor plays a similar style to A&M. Players to watch out for include junior forward Tyler Isgrig and graduate midfielder Ashley Merrill.

“They're usually a really good team in possession,” Guerrieri said. “They're really good at lulling you in and opening you up. They've got some kids that are good on the break. Tyler Isgrig is a kid who plays well in set pieces. She's a transfer out of  TCU. They've got some decent players up front and a couple of really good athletes on the back line, so they're hard to get behind.

“Merrill in the midfield for them is really dangerous. Like we said, Isrig up front is really good at setting people up and scoring goals.”

However, the Ags won’t let them off easily. 

Off to a stellar start with three goals in three games, junior midfielder Sydney Becerra has a range of approximately 35 yards by either foot and allows A&M to capitalize from a distance.

Senior Mia Pante will also be key in the long-range game. Her goal against Fairfield came from 30 yards out.

“Sydney Becerra is one of the best players to come out of Texas in many, many years,” Guerrieri said. “She's a kid that when she scores, she'll score a world-class goal.

“The other person that you haven't seen as much… Who came in right off the bench, took a corner kick and got an assist is junior midfielder Leah Pirro, an all-American transfer from Grand Canyon. Both of them are set-piece artists.”

A&M has the threats. Now, the Aggies need to follow through against their first power-conference foe of 2024.

In previous years, this matchup has proved important, leading to victories later in the season. The Aggies hope to secure their fortunes and bring home the win.

“As far as Baylor and our rivalry with them, you can go back to early days and a lot of the early Big 12 titles,” Guerrieri said. “We've had some success, and they've had some success. We've won a lot of games in Waco, but they've never been easy games.”

Don’t expect Friday to be easy, either.