SEC Soccer Week 7 Preview: The Big One in the SEC

SEC Game of the Week Year

No. 6 Florida travels to College Station to face No. 9 Texas A&M Friday night in the regular season's biggest SEC matchup. Both teams come in undefeated at 3-0-0 in the SEC and are the only SEC teams unbeaten in conference play. While both teams are highly ranked groups, they also have outstanding individuals, including the SEC's top three scorers in 2014 in A&M's Shea Groom (11), Kelley Monogue (8) and Florida's Savannah Jordan (7).

For Florida, it will be their third road game against a top ten team after defeating Florida State and losing to Stanford earlier this season in out of conference play. Last weekend, Florida beat Georgia 2-1 with Jordan scoring the game winning goal in the second half. Jordan also scored Florida's final goal of their 3-1 win over Missouri on Sunday to earn her SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Texas A&M enters the game on a five game winning streak and will be looking to continue their 15 game home winning streak. A&M and LSU traded goals in the first 2:07 of their game before the Aggies ran out 4-1 winner in Baton Rouge last Friday. A&M controlled the game, holding an 11-2 shots on goal advantage, and after two more goals before the 29th minute, A&M cruised to a comfortable victory. Groom scored a 79th minute winner over Ole Miss to give A&M a 2-1 win on Sunday.

The two teams shared the regular season SEC title last year before the Aggies won the rematch in the SEC Tournament final, 2-1. The 2013 regular season matchup was won by the Gators 2-0. Friday's game kicks off at 8 p.m ET and will be streamed on the SEC Network+.

The Undercard

• Alabama and No. 24 South Carolina face off Friday in a game of contrasts. South Carolina boasts the best defense in the SEC while Alabama is second in goals scored. South Carolina's offense is struggling after being shut out last weekend, but will be facing an Alabama defense that has the best goals against average in conference play.
• Kentucky won their games last weekend by a combined 5-1 margin, but will face a tough road weekend. First, they face a hot Missouri team that was unbeaten in it's last eight games before dropping the last game against Florida. The Kentucky-Missouri game is Thursday on the SEC Network. The weekend closes with a difficult game at Texas A&M.
• After a strong non conference run that saw Auburn get as high as number 18 in the NSCAA rankings, the Tigers have struggled. They will host a pair of teams that, like the Tigers, will be looking to bounce back from a tough start to SEC play to enter the top half of the conference standings. Ole Miss travels to the plains Friday before Tennessee visits on Sunday.

Talking Points

• Georgia split their road trip against ranked teams with a 2-1 loss to Florida and a 1-0 win over South Carolina. Freshman Kelsey Killean volleyed in a goal 15 seconds after halftime against the Gamecocks to give the Bulldogs the lead. Georgia was reduced to ten players after Marion Crowder was sent off with a straight red in the 66th minute after pulling down a South Carolina player in a tussle, but the Bulldogs held off the Carolina challenge for the win. Crowder had an up and down weekend after scoring an equalizer in the loss to Florida for her team leading sixth goal.
• South Carolina dropped both their games with a 1-0 loss to Missouri in addition to the loss to Georgia. The two goals on the weekend doubled their season total of goals conceded. With only 16 goals in 11 games, the Gamecocks are currently 12th in the SEC in goals scored, so without an uptick in scoring they might continue to struggle in SEC play unless the defense can stay as water tight as it was throughout non conference play.
• Alabama moved to 2-1-0 over a pair of 1-0 wins. Alabama won at Tennessee 1-0 with a 101st minute double overtime winner from Maruschka Waldrus for Alabama's first win in Knoxville (8 games). Jordan Meier scored a 61st minute goal against Vanderbilt to sweep the state of Tennessee. The shutouts were Alabama's first back to back shutouts since 1997 and led to goalkeeper Emily Rusk being named SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
• The pair of losses dropped the Gamecocks ten spots in the NSCAA poll to 24th this week. Georgia continued to climb two spots and currently sits at 22nd. Florida held pat at sixth while A&M moved up one spot to ninth. Missouri garnered votes for the first time since September 9, but currently sits four spots outside the top 25.

Standings

Results

Schedule