No. 9 A&M soccer opens home slate against No. 7 Clemson on Saturday

Key notes from G Guerrieri interview

• We knew coming into the season that we were talented. Most of that talent is still in their teenage years. We're taking on the toughest schedule in the country. In our sport, you don't have to be undefeated to win the national championship. For us, it's about getting better every day and finding those things to get better at now when we go for the national title and the SEC title.
   
• We went on the road to face No. 1 Florida State, and they might be one of the best teams ever. To come out of that game with a loss, 1-0 in the final minute, was disappointing. We went to face No. 6 TCU and faced another record crowd. We didn't play well, and they did. We gave up two screwy goals and lost 2-1. Losing sucks, and we don't do it very often.
   
• This week, the focus is completely on us. We have another top-ten team coming in to open our home schedule. We've got to keep the players positive and looking forward and always within themselves to get a little bit better.
   
• TCU controlled the possession, probably 55-45. We just weren't good enough. Would we like to play them again? Absolutely. Would they like to play us? I don't know, probably not. We play these games in August because we want to be ready to play these teams in the tournament.
   
• Clemson comes in as an undefeated team. They were an Elite Eight team last year that knocked off UCLA last year. Their men's program is one of the elite programs in the country. This has all the makings of Saturday night being a great spectacle and a great match.
   
• We were without four forwards against TCU, three of which were starters. It has to be a "next man up" mentality. Andersen Williams is out for the year with an ACL injury. We hope to get Natalie Abel and Ali Russell back this week. We start three freshmen in our attack. One of the differences between last year and this year was the pause that gave us extra training time. We need to up the tempo just a bit while also playing within ourselves. A young team will play without a rhythm at times.
   
• I could put a schedule together where we win every game by 10 goals, but when we walk into SEC venues, it would be a rude awakening. To be the best, you have to play and beat the best. We have a lot of players who have won the league and were one goal away from being in the Final Four last year. We are trying to have that experience rub off on our young players.
   
• We're expecting it to be electric at Ellis Field this weekend. It's the first athletic event at Texas A&M this year, and as history has dictated, this is a reunion for the freshmen who went to fish camp. We think that it'll be a big night as far as freshmen coming, and the yell leaders will be there. There is also a big youth tournament going on in town. We have about 140 teams in town. It's great for the local economy.