Guerrieri & Co. prepared for 'tough week' midway through SEC play

Texas A&M soccer sits in fourth place in the SEC with a 3-2 record and five conference games remaining. On TexAgs Live, head coach G Guerrieri joined the show to discuss what is ahead for the program, including a clash with Vanderbilt and a road test at Alabama this weekend.

Key notes from G Guerrieri interview

• It was a great weekend because we went on the road, won, and then had the weekend off. Our players could go to the football game on Saturday, which was a great weekend of winning, and then had a Sunday of recovery.
   
• All around, we did great. We scored four goals. Every time we have had the chance to prepare for a game, you can really see the outcome of the training. A big emphasis last week was how we wanted to speed up our attack and how we wanted to do a little better in our organization of the box in the penalty box.
   
• The proof was on the scoreboard. Two goals from Jazmine Wilkinson and an assist. Taylor Jernigan also scored. MaKhiya McDonald had a great chip on the goalkeeper. It hit the post and went out. Sydney Fuller, our freshman goalkeeper, had a great game again. She was awarded Freshman of the Week in the SEC, which is pretty cool, and it's the second time for her.
   
• We're halfway through the SEC season, which is crazy. With just three weeks to go, we're in fourth and one win out of first place.
   
• Jaz was our leading scorer last year. She is such a smart player and a hard worker. Anyone who listens to her post-game comments knows she is a selfless worker. She works hard for the players around her. 
   
• Sydney has had to play through some knocks and pings. She even got knocked down pretty hard at the game. I'm proud of her to be a starter as a freshman in the SEC and especially in a leadership position such as goalkeeper.
   
• Phil Stephenson is very much about the process of, "We're going to make our players better." Our players are working their tails off. There is a lot of paddling in our training sessions and weight room and trying to prepare themselves for this last stretch. One of the things we wanted to do a better job this year was not scoring enough goals on restarts and set pieces. Seth Taylor, our assistant coach, has done a fantastic job with his work with the players on that, and we have had a big payoff in those areas.
   
• We've presented a few gifts in the early games. We play against good teams, and if you give them opportunities, they'll take them, and we've got to learn from that. We play Vanderbilt on Thursday. Last year, they thumped us. The big turnaround last year was that after the loss, we came back home and beat the defending champions, Alabama. We're going to need the 12th Man's support for this game this week. Then we turn around there days later and head up to Tuscaloosa to play a talented team up there.
   
• The thing about last year was that Vanderbilt had seven shots on goal, and they scored six of them on us. A picture of efficiency. We've got to do better. If we don't do better, they'll make us pay for it.