In each of the 17 seasons women’s soccer coach Bryan Blitz has been at Missouri, he’s faced Texas A&M.

Though the Aggies hold the all-time series with a 12-6-1 lead going into their game Thursday against the Tigers in College Station, Texas, the roots of the series go a lot deeper.

Both Blitz and Texas A&M coach Gerald “G” Guerrieri grew up in Richland, Texas, and played college soccer together at the University of Tulsa.

“We were teammates all the way through college and colleagues ever since, and he’s done a great job with the A&M program,” Blitz said.

Blitz joined the Tulsa squad in 1984, Guerrieri’s junior year. Blitz was a midfielder and attacker, and Guerrieri was one of the program’s most successful goalkeepers. Guerrieri still holds five team records, including most saves in a game, most shutouts in a season and most saves in a season.

Guerrieri said he remembers Blitz as a hardworking player.

“He was always the one who concentrated on his effort,” Guerrieri said. “We got along great, and we’ve been friends for over 30 years.”

After playing from 1981 to 1984, Guerrieri went from the field to the bench as an assistant for the Tulsa men’s soccer team for a year.

“He actually coached me for one year,” Blitz said. “When he graduated from Tulsa, he was a graduate assistant, and he coached me my senior year.”

Guerrieri eventually became the head soccer coach at Texas A&M in 1992. Three years later, Blitz became Missouri’s first and only soccer coach. Though Guerrieri and Blitz have acknowledged their good friendship, the rivalry between the two coaches can be intense.

“On that day (that we play), we want to kill each other,” Blitz said, laughing. “On the other days, we respect each other. We know it’s business on that day, and we’re able to separate. But all the other days, we’re in pretty close contact.”

When they contact each other outside soccer matches, the conversation revolves around two matters, Blitz said.

“We probably check in once a week,” Blitz said. “We usually talk about soccer, but we’ll check in with the kids.”

On Thursday, the coaches will put aside their friendliness for the final regular season game, set to kick off at 7 p.m.

This past weekend, No. 16 Missouri (13-5-0, 8-4-0 Southeastern Conference) dropped two games, losing to Arkansas on Friday and Louisiana State on Sunday.

No. 9 Texas A&M (15-3-1, 9-2-1 SEC) lost to Tennessee but rebounded and beat Georgia in double overtime.

Texas A&M took the Big 12 Conference championship title last season, and a win against Missouri could ensure an SEC title this season.

Perhaps fittingly, Missouri and Texas A&M moved to the SEC together, ensuring the friendly competition between two longtime friends would continue.

“It’s always been great,” Guerrieri said. “We’re great friends. We believe in the same ideas. But the 90 minutes we are out there, we’re very competitive, and we’re always trying to one-up each other.”