Huskies Ready To Face Texas A&M
November 12, 2015 | Women's Soccer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – After earning its 14th NCAA Tournament berth, UW women's soccer will hit the road to face the Aggies of Texas A&M in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. CT, 5 p.m. PT. The game will be shown on SEC Network +.
“I like the way we trained over the last couple days,” UW head coach Lesle Gallimore. “I like our energy and mindset. We have discussed how we get better over our last few games and I think we have a clear understanding about what areas we need to improve.”
The Huskies are making their 14th overall and second straight NCAA tournament appearance, and sixth in the last eight years. In 2014, UW advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with victories over Rider and Missouri in the first two rounds. The Huskies fell to Stanford in the third round to end their season. UW has two Elite Eight appearances (2004, 2010) and has reached the Sweet Sixteen in two other seasons (2000, 2014).
The Huskies and Aggies have faced off once in the NCAA tournament, as UW fell to the Aggies in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament in College Station.
In total, the two teams have faced off four times, with the Aggies having won all four previous matchups. The first meeting between the schools came in 2001 and they saw each other in 2002 and 2005, along with the 2008 NCAA tournament. This will be the Huskies' third trip to College Station.
“A&M is a good team. This will be a really big challenge for us,” Gallimore said. “We've played some really good teams this year and when we've been challenged, I think we've risen to the occasion. I'm excited for our players to get the opportunity to play in one of the best atmospheres in college soccer.”
The Huskies (12-6-2, 5-5-1 Pac-12) finished in fifth place in the Pac-12. UW's top two scorers, Shannon Simon (seven goals, five assists) and Kimberly Keever (six goals), were each named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team. Freshman forward Kelcie Hedge and junior midfielder Amanda Perez each recorded four goals and two assists. Hedge was also honored by the conference as a member of the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. Six other Huskies have scored this season.
Senior center back McKenzie Karas was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team after a great season that saw her play a key role in the Huskies recording six shutouts. Fellow senior center back Allyson Brahs is also finishing up a successful career at Washington, with 80 career appearances and 63 starts.
“Practice has been going great,” Karas said. “The energy has been really high and we are excited to prove people wrong. This team enjoys playing soccer together and we'll go out there focused on what we can do to play our best.”
The Aggies (15-6-1, 6-4-0 SEC) are coming off a loss to No. 5 Florida in the SEC Tournament Championship. Texas A&M won the conference tournament in 2013 and 2014. The Aggies have been tough at home in 2015 with a 9-1-0 record at Ellis Field.
“We have to go down there and establish ourselves and make ourselves at home on their field,” UW sophomore midfielder Shaye Villanueva said. “We are taking our 1-0 mantra and focusing on this one game with a clean slate and not worrying about what's happened up to this point. We are going to focus on ourselves and our own team.”
Haley Pounds has 12 goals and four assists on the season and leads Texas A&M with 28 points. Emily Bates is the Aggies' second leading scorer with seven goals and six assists. Mikaela Harvey and Ally Watt both have six goals on the season and seven other Aggies have contributed to the scoring.
The Aggies made their first-ever appearance in the College Cup in 2014, falling to Virginia in the national semifinals.
As stated previously, the match will kick off at 7 p.m. CT and will be shown on SEC Network +, which can be access via WatchESPN.com or by downloading the Watch ESPN app. Both require cable provider login information.
In-game updates will also be provided on Twitter at @UW_WSoccer.
For more on UW women's soccer, follow the Huskies on Facebook and on Snapchat, Periscope, Twitter and Instagram at @UW_WSoccer.
