 "Photo:")
Texas A&M soccer coach G Guerrieri defined a realistic goal as, "winning the national championship," and noted that, "if we're in the mix to win the Big 12 championship, then we're in the mix to win the national championship."
When Guerrieri was asked which game this season could be the toughest one, the veteran coach said, "Friday's."
The Aggies hope to be in that mix coming off an 18-6 record in 2004 having won the Big 12 title and advancing to the NCAA Championship tournament for the 10th straight year.
The squad looks to improve upon its 2004 season by playing in the NCAA College Cup on Dec. 2-4 in College Station.
A&M will be hosting the national title for the first time in school history at its facility and would love nothing more than to be there when the season winds down.
A&M returns 10 starters and 23 letterwinners with the addition of five highly touted recruits. The Aggies began practice on Aug. 10 with optimism and focus not seen in previous seasons.
"The most pleasant change between now and 365 days ago is the intensity in practice due to the maturity of the players," Guerrieri said. "This has made our practices much more realistic."
Guerrieri will expect a lot from standout players that include senior goalkeeper and co-captain Kati Jo Spisak, and last year's Big 12 Rookie of the year Ashlee Pistorius.
Both players already stepped into leadership roles in different ways, Spisak with her vocal enthusiasm on the field, and Pistorius with her quiet demeanor and aggressive play.
Spisak, commonly referred to as "KJ," seems fine with the expectations everyone has for this year's squad.
"The only pressure is what I put on myself and that I have to be a leader. I have to demand the best from my team, every practice, every game," Spisak said.
One of Ashlee Pistorius' biggest motivations for making it to the National Championship this year is, "not wanting to be fans on our home turf."
Pistorius stressed that she is not as concerned with personal goals as she is with the team's goals.
"Whatever it takes to get to the College Cup; whether it's an assist, being there for support, or whatever best helps out the team," Pistorius said.
With all signs pointing to success, it is important to keep in mind that not everything has gone perfect for the Aggies.
The highly ranked freshman duo of Cydne and Natalie Currie each tore the ACL in their left legs in consecutive practices and will be out for the season. The players and coaches have all mentioned how the Currie twins still contribute by coming to every practice with positive attitudes.
Katie Jo Spisak's take on the Aggies' obstacles is plain and simple: "The only people that can stop us is ourselves. We have the talent on this team to go as far as we want, as long as we put everything together, we can achieve our goals."
A&M also has some tough competition this season with five Big 12 teams being ranked in the nation's top 30. Pistorius talked about the difficult competition in conference.
"The Big 12 is our main focus, but we really have been focusing on one game at a time." Big games against Nebraska, Texas and Colorado could be exclamation marks in Texas A&M's season."
A&M is set to take the field in their regular season opener against Stephen F. Austin on Friday. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. at the Aggie Soccer Field.
Be the first to comment on this article!