Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Wade Barker Sophomore forward Whitney Hooper dribbles the ball against a North Carolina defender during Friday's game. [Click to enlarge]

The Texas A&M women's soccer team has never been one to step back from a challenge. With eleven Big 12 titles, four consecutive, and a target on their back, the Aggies are striving for the one piece of hardware missing from their shelf, a national championship.

To get that elusive championship the Aggies will need to run a scheduling gauntlet that includes several ranked teams and two powerhouses. The Texas Longhorns have not posted a losing record since 1999, and the North Carolina Tar Heels, who the Aggies have already lost to 3-2 in 2008, are on the schedule.

"We always play one of the toughest schedules in the country," Head Coach G Guerrieri said. "I look at every game as an opportunity to get better and we play against teams that we're potentially going to see in the postseason when it's a win or go home set up, and we can learn a lot from that."

"If we win then we'll learn from it," Guerrieri added. "And if we don't win then it will show us where we can be exposed and we can improve from that. So we come out every season with the idea that we're going to come out and try to win the national championship."

The Aggies' 2008 schedule is daunting, with games against No. 17 Wake Forest, No. 21 California, No. 25 Kansas, No. 18 Oklahoma State and the Lone Star Showdown against No. 8 Texas.

A&M and Texas are expected to duel not only for supremacy in the Big 12, nationally. The Aggies have won the past four Big 12 regular season titles but the Longhorns have won two consecutive Big 12 tournament titles.

Even with the grueling schedule, Coach Guerrieri has a positive outlook on the benefits of such a lineup.

"The positives are that we're going to be challenged in a lot of different ways," Guerrieri said. "We're going to play some of the top teams in the country and the top teams in a lot of different conferences. So we think that that's going to help to make us better for the rest of the season. The schedule we put out there makes it to were there are a lot of great marquee lineups for our fans to come here and see."

For Guerrieri there is always room for improvement and on a team that feature 11 true freshmen it will be very important. However from the team's point of view the level on the youth on the team has not been a problem.

"The freshmen have been great," red-shirt freshman goalie Kristin Arnold said. "They've transitioned really well and are just as much a part of this team as anyone else. In fact we don't even call them freshmen; they are just as much a part of this team as anyone else."

Despite the schedule and the inexperience of some of the players, the goals for the Aggies are clear.

"We hope to win our fifth title in a row and our eleventh total," Guerrieri said.

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