Balaguer steady component of A&M women's soccer team

For a little more than three seasons, Texas A&M's soccer team has enjoyed one constant.

Rachael Balaguer starting at right back.

And the second?

Rachael Balaguer finishing at right back.

"Even in games where coaches want to rest me or give me a break because we are winning, I'll give them the dirtiest look because I hate coming off the field," Balaguer said. "I take it personal, even if I'm not playing bad. I just want to be out there."

Her glare worked again Friday when the Aggies took a 2-0 lead against Drake in the opening 10 minutes and cruised to a 6-1 victory.

"We thought about taking her out on Friday and started looking through the lineup," A&M head coach G. Guerrieri said. "I thought, 'OK, we can't afford to have something happen to [Blaguer],' and then [assistant coach Lori Stephenson] says, 'Don't take her out. She'll be fine.'"

Balaguer has started 82 of 88 games since arriving at A&M, including the last 64. She is one of five Aggies to start every match this season and one of two players to start all 23 games last season. The year before as a sophomore, Balaguer was the only Aggie to start all 25 of A&M's matches.

"Her even more than [central defender Rachel] Lenz is an automatic in the lineup," Guerrieri said. "Unless she's sick or carrying an injury, we know that No. 24 is in the lineup, and to her credit she hasn't let that be an excuse to let up. I think one of the reasons is she [works out] so much when no one watching."

Balaguer's fitness caught the A&M coaches' attention when the Austin native arrived at A&M in a class rated among the best in the nation. That rating, however, had little to do with Balaguer and more to do with four highly touted players from Colorado.

"In committing to this school, I wasn't one of the top recruits," Balaguer said. "I was a good player in high school, but I didn't expect to come in my freshman year and play at all. I'm the type of person who doesn't talk a big game, but behind the scenes I'll work my butt off, so that summer before my freshman year I worked really, really hard and came in really fit, blew the fitness test away."

To get on the field, Balaguer also had to learn a new position after spending her high school career as an attacking midfielder.

And if that wasn't enough of a hurdle, she had to beat out the team's previous defender of the year Micah Stephens to earn playing time.

"In a lot of ways she was under the radar for a lot of people, but we knew she could be a really good player," Guerrieri said. "We knew she had a great engine, and she was technically sound. The nice thing about her is she takes those things as personal challenges and really uses it as internal motivation."

Outside of a few starts in the midfield her freshman season, Balaguer has spent the bulk of her A&M career covering one of the opponents' fastest players down the left flank. She helped the Aggies combine for 18 shutouts over her sophomore and juniors seasons. A&M surrendered an average of a goal a game during that stretch.

Those impressive numbers took a hit at the start of this season. With two freshmen auditioning at goalkeeper, A&M gave up 17 goals in its first eight games. Seven came against Duke, including five in the second half.

"After that game, [the defense and goalkeepers] got together and said we can't let that go on any more," Balaguer said. "I remember my freshman year Kristin [Arnold] was the goalkeeper, and I remember how supportive she was and let me know what was going on. She was calm and relaxed and it was huge, so it was about us calming them down, telling them we got your back."

Balaguer never put the blame for A&M's tough start on the young goalkeepers. The defense and the keepers had to learn to play as one, and for the first time since she had arrived, the keeper wasn't the vocal leader with the most experience.

So the back line had to take the reins, and it did.

A&M finished the weekend it lost 7-2 to Duke with a 4-3 victory over then-No.1 North Carolina. Since then, the Aggies have had three shutouts and allowed just one goal in each of the other five games.

"It wasn't just due to goalkeeping," Guerrieri said of the slow start. "There were a lot of things incorporated in it, and [Balaguer] has been pretty instrumental in solidifying our defensive unit. Everybody wasn't living up to what they could do, and one of the compliments I have for her is she responds and she takes care of her business. She's not somebody we have to lecture and remind and rail against. She usually recognizes it herself."

A&M has gone 7-1 since falling to Duke. And at 4-1 in the Big 12, the Aggies control their conference destiny with first-place and second-ranked Oklahoma State (4-0-1) coming to Ellis Field on Sunday after a Friday night match against Oklahoma.

"My four year-span, it's been kind of hard because my class fell apart the first two years, and there were heartbreakers because we lost the Big 12 by a point," Balaguer said. "We got that Big 12 title last year, and we definitely want another this year."

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NOTES -- Balaguer has one goal and eight assists as an Aggie. Her goal was a game-winner against Washington in the second round of the NCAA tournament her freshman season. ... She has four assists this season. ... Balaguer's other love is horseback riding. She owned three horses at one time. After soccer is over she says she has thoughts of playing on the A&M polo team.

Aggie soccer

What: Final home games of regular season

Match 1: (Senior Night) A&M (11-5, 4-1) vs. Oklahoma (6-10, 1-4), 6:30 p.m. Friday at Ellis Field

Match 2: A&M vs. No. 2 Oklahoma State (15-0-1, 4-0-1), 3 p.m. Sunday at Ellis Field (TV: ESPNU)