Virginia Women's Soccer Travels to Texas A&M for NCAA Round of 16 Matchup
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Game #22
Virginia (12-7-2) at #18 Texas A&M (16-5-1)
NCAA Round of 16
November 17, 2006
6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET)
Aggie Soccer Stadium
College Station, Texas
Gametracker
Texas A&M Tournament Site
(Links to Live Video and Ticket Information)
TODAY’S GAME
The Cavaliers make their first ever trip to the Lone Star State as they meet Texas A&M in a NCAA Tournament round of 16 game Friday night in College Station. Virginia is looking for its second consecutive quarterfinal berth, while the Aggies are looking for their first quarterfinal appearance since 2002. The winner will meet the North Carolina-Tennessee winner next weekend in the quarterfinals.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia enters the game with a 12-7-2 record, following 2-0 wins over West Virginia and Wake Forest to open the tournament. Jess Rostedt leads the Cavaliers in scoring with nine goals and three assists for 21 points this season. Christina de Vries has a 0.72 goals against average, while posting eight shutouts in net this season.
ABOUT THE AGGIES
Texas A&M enters the game with a 16-5-1 record, after home wins against Grambling and SMU last weekend. Texas A&M was the regular season Big XII Champions, posting a 9-1-0 conference record. The Aggies are seventh in the nation in scoring (3.09 gpg) and are led by Ashlee Pistorius who has 14 goals this season. Kristin Arnold has a 0.78 goals against average, while posting eight shutouts this year.
VIRGINIA-TEXAS A&M SERIES
Friday’s game is the first meeting between the schools since both schools recognized the start of their respective programs. Virginia played Texas A&M in 1988 (prior to the official start of the Aggie program), with the Cavaliers scoring a 2-0 win in a game at the WAGS Tournament in Fort Belvior, Va.
VIRGINIA AGAINST THE BIG XII
Friday’s game is just the third ever game for the Cavaliers against a member of the Big XII Conference. The Cavaliers are 2-0-0 against Big XII schools, defeating Texas A&M 2-0 in 1988 and Kansas 4-0 in 1997.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Cavaliers are making their 19th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, and their 13th consecutive appearance. Only North Carolina, Connecticut, Notre Dame, and Santa Clara have longer streaks of consecutive NCAA appearances than Virginia. After Sunday’s win over Wake Forest, the Cavaliers have an all-time NCAA record of 15-16-3. During the Steve Swanson era, Virginia’s NCAA record is 12-5-2.
THE DIFFICULT ROAD
The Cavaliers will be playing a top ten team in one of the four major polls for the third consecutive game of the tournament when they play Texas A&M (#8 Soccer Times & SoccerBuzz). Virginia already beat West Virginia (#9 Soccer America) and Wake Forest (#10 NSCAA). If the Cavaliers continue to win and the other seeds hold up, Virginia would play a top ten team in every round of the tournament.
LOOKING FOR NCAA SUCCESS AWAY FROM HOME
Virginia is looking for its third win away from home of the tournament as they visit Texas A&M. Coming into this year’s tournament, only three of the Cavaliers’ previous 13 NCAA Tournament wins had come away from Charlottesville (1991 quarterfinal at Connecticut, 2002 first round vs. Dayton at West Virginia, and 2002 second round at West Virginia).
LONE STAR STATE OF MIND, FOR THE FIRST TIME
Friday’s game will be the Cavaliers’ first in the state of Texas. The Lone Star State becomes the 18th different state that the Cavaliers have played a game in (UVa has also played in the District of Columbia). Even though Virginia has not played in Texas, two Cavaliers are familiar with Texas A&M. Jess Rostedt and Nikki Krzysik spent a week in Aggieland this past spring when the U-20 National Team had a training camp on the Texas A&M campus.
