Texas A&M Soccer
"She was on limited time. She's going to have to keep with that for a little as she gets herself more and more healthy. But, the fact that she played 15 minutes in the first half and 15 minutes in the second half, those were our 30 most dangerous minutes as a team. She got herself into good positions and she took away a lot of attention so that our other forwards were able to get themselves in position. She's a huge factor in our danger to be able to score. The more that we can add and the better she feels, the better we're going to be."
"Still, health is a big thing, you just talked about Emily. But, we have 26 players on the team. Nineteen of them have been and have missed either half of a game, a full game, or multiple games. That's a crazy number. That's been our issue. We haven't been able to have consistency from one game to the next. We haven't been able to have consistency from one half to the next. For example, on Thursday night, Grace Piper is brutally taken down from behind and now she's out. On Sunday, Margaret Schmidt sustains a concussion, so now she's out. So we keep having to move different people into different places. The good news is the team has been fighting like devils. There's no shortage of fight. There's no quit in these Aggies. It's just a matter of them getting more comfortable with playing with new people on the snap of the fingers. That's a big part of what we're working on this week. Just consistency in the way we're playing because we only have to play one game this week. But it's a big one. Ole Miss is a super side so that's an obstacle for us for sure. They beat us in the regular season last year. We beat them twice in the SEC tournament and then in the NCAA's. They've circled the game. Everyone circles the game against our program and this is the year where they're like, 'You know what, they have so many people out, we might be able to do it this time.' Well, as we get more and more people in, we need to crush those dreams as much as we can."
"We're focusing just on us. We're focusing on quality. Like I said, there's been no shortage of fight. But there has been shortage of quality. We talked today about more consciousness of where people are defensively, more consciousness of where people are offensively, and little bit more patience. It's hard with teenagers, to get them to play with patience and get them to keep the ball and to move the ball when it's dire situations. We've gone with a pretty competitive environment this week. But, at the same time as trying to keep it hard and competitive, trying to keep it smart and really, just patient."
"It's vital. We have to win. We have to win. So it's all about this game. This is the game on Friday night in Oxford. It's the biggest game of the weekend and it's the only game of the weekend. It's a major game for us because, currently, Ole Miss is two points ahead of us in the standings. If we can beat them, we switch spots with them and that's really what we're looking to do this week."
A&M soccer coach G Guerrieri talks about team's fight, upcoming games
On Emily Bates' return...
"She was on limited time. She's going to have to keep with that for a little as she gets herself more and more healthy. But, the fact that she played 15 minutes in the first half and 15 minutes in the second half, those were our 30 most dangerous minutes as a team. She got herself into good positions and she took away a lot of attention so that our other forwards were able to get themselves in position. She's a huge factor in our danger to be able to score. The more that we can add and the better she feels, the better we're going to be."
On overcoming obstacles this season...
"Still, health is a big thing, you just talked about Emily. But, we have 26 players on the team. Nineteen of them have been and have missed either half of a game, a full game, or multiple games. That's a crazy number. That's been our issue. We haven't been able to have consistency from one game to the next. We haven't been able to have consistency from one half to the next. For example, on Thursday night, Grace Piper is brutally taken down from behind and now she's out. On Sunday, Margaret Schmidt sustains a concussion, so now she's out. So we keep having to move different people into different places. The good news is the team has been fighting like devils. There's no shortage of fight. There's no quit in these Aggies. It's just a matter of them getting more comfortable with playing with new people on the snap of the fingers. That's a big part of what we're working on this week. Just consistency in the way we're playing because we only have to play one game this week. But it's a big one. Ole Miss is a super side so that's an obstacle for us for sure. They beat us in the regular season last year. We beat them twice in the SEC tournament and then in the NCAA's. They've circled the game. Everyone circles the game against our program and this is the year where they're like, 'You know what, they have so many people out, we might be able to do it this time.' Well, as we get more and more people in, we need to crush those dreams as much as we can."
On preparing for Ole Miss...
"We're focusing just on us. We're focusing on quality. Like I said, there's been no shortage of fight. But there has been shortage of quality. We talked today about more consciousness of where people are defensively, more consciousness of where people are offensively, and little bit more patience. It's hard with teenagers, to get them to play with patience and get them to keep the ball and to move the ball when it's dire situations. We've gone with a pretty competitive environment this week. But, at the same time as trying to keep it hard and competitive, trying to keep it smart and really, just patient."
On the importance of winning the next few games...
"It's vital. We have to win. We have to win. So it's all about this game. This is the game on Friday night in Oxford. It's the biggest game of the weekend and it's the only game of the weekend. It's a major game for us because, currently, Ole Miss is two points ahead of us in the standings. If we can beat them, we switch spots with them and that's really what we're looking to do this week."
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