COLLEGE STATION, TX -- The preseason No. 8-ranked Texas A&M soccer team ushers in another brand new season with an early marquee matchup against the most successful NCAA soccer program in the nation in top-ranked and two-time defending national champion North Carolina. The Aggies and Tar Heels kick off on Friday, Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.

There are ample opportunities for fans to watch plenty of soccer this weekend. The A&M/UNC match on Friday follows a tournament-opening game between Michigan State and St. John’s at 4:30 p.m. Similarly, on Sunday, the Aggies face St. John’s at 1:30 p.m. after a 10:30 a.m. game involving MSU and Carolina.

Parking is free and is available in the Reed Arena and Olsen parking lots. For added convenience, there are now two entrances on the north end of the stadium.

TICKET INFORMATION
A Tournament All-Session Package is available for purchase this weekend for $10 general admission and $12 reserved east side. To purchase this package, season or individual tickets, please contact the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Center at tickets.12thmanfoundation.com, 979-845-2311 or toll free at 1-888-99-AGGIE. Tickets are also available in person beginning one hour before the match at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.

PROMOTIONS

This Sunday and every Sunday at the Aggie Soccer Stadium, kids get in FREE! Up to four kids are admitted FREE with one paying adult. Sunday is also T-camp and Impact Day. Wear your camp T-shirt and get in FREE.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

Gametracker will be available for all matches this weekend on AggieAthletics.com. In addition, live audio and live video will be provided for A&M games on AggieAthletics.com. Fans can listen to the broadcast live locally on Candy 95.1 HD3 Play-by-Replay channel, making it available worldwide on any iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry or PDA free of charge. Log on to RadioAggieland.com to download the app.

LISTEN TO THE GAME AT THE STADIUM
Fans bring your radio to the Aggie Soccer Stadium and listen to play-by-play announcer David Ellis call all the action live on 88.1 FM.

FOLLOW AGGIE SOCCER ON TWITTER

Not following Aggie Soccer on Twitter? Sign up or sign in now to find out what’s happening. You’ll stay up-to-date on the latest news and receive live in-game updates at each and every match.

WHERE ARE THE AGGIES RANKED?
A&M is ranked No. 8 by both the NSCAA and Soccer America, jumping into the preseason top 10 after finishing the ’09 season ranked 13th. North Carolina claimed the top in the NSCAA poll followed by Stanford, UCLA, Notre Dame and Portland.

TOP 10 AGAIN
With the 2010 No. 8 preseason ranking, A&M has been in the national top 10 every year since 1995. It was also the 15th consecutive season for the Aggies to be ranked in the preseason top 15 and 10th overall to crack the preseason top 10.

POWERS SQUARE OFF ON OPENING WEEKEND
A&M and UNC are one of just two top-10 matchups playing out Friday night. While the Aggie Soccer Stadium features a No. 1 vs. No. 8 match, No. 2 Stanford travels to No. 7 Boston College for a Friday night game.

A&M IN SEASON OPENERS AND AT HOME

Since 1993, Texas A&M is undefeated (13-0) when it opens its season at home and is 15-2 all-time in the first match of the year. The Aggies have kicked off the season four times at neutral sites with a 2-2 record. At home, the team boasts a 158-22-4 record, good for a .870 winning percentage.

2009 SEASON OPENER
The Aggie soccer team opened the 2009 season at home with a 3-0 shutout of No. 8 USC. Mary Grace Schmidt (45th minute), Whitney Hooper (73rd minute) and Amber Gnatzig (87th minute) each scored with assists from Becca Herrera, Nora Skelton and Alyssa Mautz.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina has won 20 national championships, including the last two, and head coach Anson Dorrance holds an all-time record of 696-36-22 at UNC, which equals a .938 winning percentage! The Tar Heels return five starters and 17 letterwinners from last year’s squad. The team also lost 15 letterwinners and adds seven freshmen. Carolina finished 2009 with a record of 23-3-1 and was undefeated at 7-0-1 in the non-conference portion of its schedule.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN’S

The Red Storm is coming off of its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season and returns four starters and six letterwinners from a team that finished 2009, 13-6-2. They were picked to finish fifth the in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll. In two exhibitions matches this season, St. John’s played No. 16 Maryland to a 2-2 draw and most recently earned a 1-1 tie against UMass.

THE SERIES

A&M has only beaten UNC once (Aug. 25, 2006 in College Station) and trails in the all-time series 1-12. That game, the Aggies set the NCAA single-game attendance record with a crowd of 8,204 and came away with a 1-0 victory. In fact, six of the last seven matches between the two teams have been one-goal games, with three going into at least one overtime period.

The last time the two teams played in College Station, Carolina came away with a 3-2 victory. A&M rallied back from a 2-0 halftime deficit courtesy of two goals by Amber Gnatzig, but Courtney Jones netted the game-winner in the 83rd minute. The two teams saw each other in the NCAA Elite Eight that same year, and the Tar Heels came away with a 2-1 win in double overtime.

Last season in Chapel Hill, A&M played UNC scoreless for over 81 minutes, but a pair of late goals lifted Carolina to a 2-0 victory.

Sunday marks the first meeting between St. John’s and Texas A&M.

LAST TIME OUT - RICE EXHIBITION MATCH
Three different Aggies found the back of the net as A&M rolled to a 3-0 win over Rice in an exhibition match on Aug. 14. Sophomore Raven Tatum scored the only goal the Aggies would need in just the seventh minute. Junior Merritt Mathias followed suit two minutes later and senior Rachel Shipley added A&M’s final blow in the 56th minute. Senior goalkeeper Kristin Arnold made six saves to earn the shutout between the posts.

2010 ROSTER
The Aggies’ 26-player roster features 15 upperclassmen, nine sophomores and two freshmen. A&M’s experienced squad is guided by eight seniors. The team returns 11 starters and 19 letterwinners from a year ago.

PICKED TO WIN THE BIG 12
Texas A&M notched the top spot in the 2010 Big 12 Soccer Preseason Poll, after receiving eight of the 10 first-place votes and tallying 95 points. With 73 points, Nebraska was chosen second, but only six points separate the Huskers from third-place Missouri (69), fourth-place Oklahoma State (68) and fifth-place Texas (67). The remainder of the poll consists of Texas Tech (61), Colorado (54), Kansas (45), Baylor (29), Oklahoma (28) and Iowa State (16).

THREE ON PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12 TEAM
Seniors Rachel Shipley and Whitney Hooper and junior Bri Young earned spots on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team, making Texas A&M one of just two teams in the conference with three players honored. This trio of Aggies finished one, two and three in most points for A&M last season.

SHIPLEY RACKING UP PRESEASON HONORS
In addition to being the only unanimous Preseason All-Big 12 selection, Shipley has gained numerous preseason awards. She was named as one of 45 of the best women’s Division I intercollegiate soccer players that comprise the MAC’s Hermann Trophy Watch List; She was selected as one of 30 candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and was most recently chosen as one of 25 Soccer America Preseason All-Americans.

HOME SCHEDULE
A&M’s home schedule in 2010 is quite favorable and should bring lots of excitement to the Aggie Soccer Stadium. There are 11 regular season contests on the home slate with six of those matches against teams that competed in the NCAA Tournament last season. The Aggies play five Big 12 games at home.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
A&M faces one of America’s toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. The Aggies’ nine-game slate pits them against seven teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2009, three of which joined A&M in the round of 16, two that advanced to the Elite Eight, while the Tar Heels rose to a national championship.

THE AGGIE SOCCER HOUR

New this year, the Aggie Soccer Hour, Texas A&M soccer’s weekly radio talk show sponsored by Monograms & More, is broadcast live from CiCi’s Pizza on Texas Ave. in College Station every Tuesday from 6-7 p.m. Come and be a part of the show each week, listen locally on KZNE 1150 AM or worldwide on Aggies All-Access and RadioAggieland.com.

AGGIE SOCCER ON TV
The Aggie soccer team will be on the tube for its Oct. 17 match at Missouri. The game will be broadcast nationwide on ESPNU. In addition, the finals of the Big 12 Championship will be broadcast live on FSN.