Missouri women’s soccer eyes SEC crown Thursday against A&M

The SEC women’s soccer championship is on the line Thursday when Missouri hosts Texas A&M at Walton Stadium in Columbia.

Tigers coach Bryan Blitz doesn’t want his squad making too much of it, though.

“These things are far and few between, so to be able to control your own destiny there’s a level of excitement there, but we have to make sure we don’t treat this like the World Cup final,” he said. “That’s my biggest challenge. It is another game, but it’s not just another game, and I just want to get them to enjoy it.”

Missouri made it to this position behind a stingy defense — which ranks second in the SEC, allowing a goal per game in conference play — and a stoic demeanor.

“They’ve really been pragmatic every single game,” Blitz said. “This senior class especially just kind of gets it done and sticks to that one-game deal and one-practice deal. It’s an unusual group from that standpoint, but I think that’s probably why we’re at where we’re at.”

Where the Tigers are is 7-2-1 in conference, tied with Florida for the best record in the SEC.

The Gators, who are ranked No. 6 in the nation, play at Georgia at 6 p.m. on Thursday, the first game of an SEC Network doubleheader that also includes the MU-A&M game.

Mississippi, which is 7-3 in conference and hosts Vanderbilt on Thursday, also has a shot at the SEC crown, but only as long as neither Missouri nor Florida win.

The Tigers, whose last conference title was in 2009 as a Big 12 member, decided not to pay attention to the Gators’ result, even though theoretically they could know if an outright title was possible when they kick off at 8 p.m. against the Aggies.

“We’re pretty much focused on our game, and we don’t want to have any distractions before we head into our game,” sophomore midfielder Savannah Trujillo, a St. Teresa’s graduate from Kansas City, said. “We’re just going to focus on what we have to do to win our game. … I’d rather just find out after the game.

“If they were to win, that would put a lot of extra pressure on us to win and be co-champions. If we worry about it, that might get us off our game a little bit, and that’s not something we want going into this game.”

Blitz said pressure is a privilege, one earned by the work put in to get to this position, but he doesn’t see any sense in compounding that pressure unnecessarily.

“We went back and forth, but it honestly doesn’t even matter if they win, lose or tie, because we still have to basically win,” Blitz said. “You’ve also got Ole Miss, which a lot of people are missing, that can jump both of us, if both of us bomb. From that standpoint, it doesn’t matter what (the Gators) do.”

Missouri simply wants to attack A&M from the opening whistle and leave no doubt.

“We’ve just got to stick to our game and be aggressive from the get-go,” Trujillo said. “That’s our No. 1 key, because when we are aggressive and come out strong, it sets the tempo and other teams have to catch up to us and adjust to our pace.”

Basically, the same game plan from the rest of the regular season.

“We’ve just got to do what we’ve done all year,” Blitz said. “We don’t need the greatest game in history from each player. … What we do well is that we press well, we use our wits well and we’ve been very stingy defending.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Missouri women’s soccer eyes SEC crown Thursday against A&M."