A dominant offensive performance from Texas A&M soccer helped conquer Ole Miss 4-0, in the 10th anniversary of the Turn It Gold foundation game on Friday, Sept. 29th.
The Aggies held the Rebels offense to a mere five shots throughout the match, while they racked up a whopping 26 shots, with 11 of them on goal.
A&M stayed locked into defensive mode during the first half, until finally in the 35th minute graduate forward Sammy Smith played the ball off to sophomore midfielder Sydney Becerra, who bullied her way through two Ole Miss defenders for the shot through the bottom right of the net.
“[Becerra] is a super teammate … she’s so dynamic and so creative in the way she plays,” coach G Guerrieri said. “[She’s a] really great creative force for us, [and] it’s neat to see her driving with the ball and going at goal.”
The next score came in the 40th minute. Becerra played the ball out to senior forward Andersen Williams waiting on the left-hand side of the goal for the ground shot to the far right of the goalkeeper, putting the Maroon and White up by 2 points going into the second half.
The Fightin’ Farmers pushed their lead further in the 55th minute, after a corner kick from Smith set up junior forward Maile Hayes for the initial header that was blocked by freshman goalkeeper Addie Yelton. Junior defender Macy Matula tapped the ball in for the rebound to put A&M up 3-0.
“[Matula] is someone who has scored some goals for us in the past, she’s someone who [is] maybe the most improved player since [coming] to A&M,” Guerrieri said. “She’s a fixture for us on the back line, and the way we play right now [is] in large part [because] of the development of [Matula] … her ability to get up and down that touch line as an attacking player has been a big plus for us, and [is] one of the things that has made us go this year.”
In the 69th minute, junior midfielder Mia Pante started a run on the right side before laying the ball off to junior midfielder Carissa Boeckmann. Junior forward MaKhiya McDonald then received the ball down the line from Boeckmann, and snuck a shot right by the keeper for the fourth goal of the night.
“This is another great win for us, to win in the SEC, a western-divison game is huge for us,” Guerrieri said. “Four different goal scorers, to [help] get a shutout and some good performances all around …There’s a lot of things to build upon as we get a well deserved weekend off.”
Next, A&M catches a small break over the weekend before heading to Nashville, Tennessee to face off against Vanderbilt on Thursday, Oct. 5th, at 7 p.m. at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex.