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Friday • December 8, 1995
Sports
Page 11 • The Battalion
Aggie Soccer takes another step
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Sophomore midfielder Diana Rowe dribbles upheld
against the Lady Longhorns in a SWC Tournament game.
□ The Aggie Soc
cer Team posted
best record
e ^r f winning 18.
By PW\\\p L eone
The b ^m 10 n
in Nov^ b er 1992,
then-Texas athlet
ic Director Jobn David
Crow announced the Ath
letic Department’s deci
sion to elevate the A&M
women’s soccer progt am
to full varsity status.
No one could have pr e .
dieted at the time that
the Lady Aggie soccer
program would develop
into a powerhouse in
only three short seasons.
But that is exactly what
has happened.
After 15-win seasons
in 1993 and 1994, Head
Coach G. Guerrieri led
his third Aggie squad to
18 wins and the school’s
first-ever appearance in
the NCAA Tournament
in 1995. Guerrieri sees
A&M’s first-round
thumping of the Univer
sity of Clemson as the
high point in a season
filled with success.
“The victory over
Clemson proved a num
ber of things not only to
us but also to the rest of
the college soccer com
munity,” Guerrieri said.
“I think it proved that we
deserved to be in the
playoffs, and it also
marked our initial ar
rival as a national pow
er.”
Although the Aggies
emerged as one of the
country’s top teams this
season, they could never
shake their Southwest
Conference rivals at
Southern Methodist Uni
versity. The Lady Mus
tangs proved to be more
than just a thorn in
A&M’s side by beating
the Aggies once in the
regular season, once in
the SWC tournament
championship and again
in the second-round of
the NCAA Tournament.
“That was the game
that slapped us across
the face and said, ‘Hey,
you gotta play hard every
game or you’re going to
get beat’,” Bryn Blalack
said. “After that, we real
ly came together and re
focused on the rest of the
season, which helped us
pick up a lot of wins later
in the season.”
From the Alabama
game on, the Aggies
cruised through the regu
lar season with one of
the Central Region’s
most explosive offensive
attacks. The front line of
Blalack, Koop and junior
forward Yvette Okler
"was devastating.
Blalack finished the
season with 23 goals and
12 assists, Koop ended
up with 21 goals and 10
assists and Okler added
"The victory
over Clemson ...
marked our ini
tial arrival as a
national power."
-G. Guerrieri
A&M Soccer Coach
nine goals and 11 assists.
The offense became
even more dangerous
with the emergence of
speedy freshman, forward
Nicole Shook, who
knocked home 10 goals
with limited playing time
in her first collegiate sea
son.
Koop credits the Aggie
offensive success to good
teamwork among the for
wards combined with
stellar play from the
midfield.
“No matter what com
bination of players, the
front line always seemed
to work well together,”
Koop said. “And I think
that’s because of the
quality and the set-up
play of the midfielders.
They always tried to give
us the ball in good offen
sive position.”
A&M’s defense also
shined for Guerrieri this
season. The speed and
tenacity of junior defend
ers Tina Robinson and
Sandy Edwards mixed
with the consistency of
junior goalkeeper Sunny
McConnell served as a
gauntlet for opposing of
fenses. McConnell and
her defensive teammates
had nine shutout games
and allowed only 32 goals
on 258 shots.
Another factor in the
good fortunes of Lady Ag
gie soccer this season
was good overall team
chemistry, which Koop
feels was essential in
helping the team over
come adversity and late
season fatigue. Blalack
believes the strength of
the A&M unity can be
brought back
to Guerrieri.
“He sort of
loosqned up,”
Blalack said.
“We picked
up on that as
a team and
played a little
bit more re
laxed. We all
just had a
good time
this season.”
The good times should
keep on coming for the
Lady Aggies next season.
A&M will only lose three
players to graduation
and will return all of the
big guns on offense going
into their inaugural sea
son in the Big 12, where
A&M and the University
of Nebraska should be
the top teams.
Guerrieri, who expects
an fine recruiting class,
feels his soccer program
has only scratched the
surface on the success
that can be achieved.
“This season was a
taste of what’s to come.
The journey has just be
gun for us.”
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DECEMBER GRADS
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December 1995
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