The Texas A&M soccer team kicked off its spring season with a pair of 60-minute matches against Oklahoma and LSU on Saturday, March 4, at Ellis Field. The Aggies took down the Sooners 1-0, while drawing with the Tigers 0-0.
Although they were only scrimmages, the Aggies used the opportunities to tune up and develop ahead of summer and the fall campaign. The maroon and white finished 9-7-5 in 2022 with a 3-4-3 mark in SEC play, falling to Texas in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
“Today was an opportunity for us to play all of our healthy players,” coach G Guerrieri said. “It’s the first time to really get out and play against somebody else and I was pleased. We didn’t give up any goals. I thought our midfield really looked good at times. We clearly have some things that we’re happy with, but you can see a lot of things that we can fine tune.”
Freshman midfielder Georgia Leb scored the first match’s only goal off a corner kick by sophomore defender Mia Pante in the fifth minute. Leb tallied one goal in 2022 off 16 shots and seven shots on goal. Pante had seven assists last season.
A&M couldn’t find the net against conference foe LSU, but outnumbered the Tigers in shots 16-3, shots on goal 7-1 and corner kicks 4-0. Goalkeepers senior Kenna Caldwell and sophomore Jordyn Gunnarson were forces in the net for the Aggies in both contests.
A&M will return to action with a doubleheader against Lamar and Baylor on Saturday, March 25, at Ellis Field. Kickoff against the Cardinals is set for 1 p.m., with action against the Bears set for 5 p.m.
“We need to keep the process going and lugging away at it,” Guerrieri said. “But there’s a lot of real strong potential with this team and these players.”