Texas A&M men’s club soccer defeated LSU 3-0 in its second home game of the season on Sunday, Oct. 1 at the Penberthy Rec Sports Complex.
The Aggies finished the first half against the Tigers up 1-0 with a goal off a free kick. The defense allowed few shots in the first and maintained a clean sheet the whole match in remaining undefeated through five games with a 3-0-2 record.
Industrial engineering senior Luke Mason scored off the free kick outside the 18-yard line in the 25th minute of the match. The kick was set up by biomedical sciences sophomore Stephen Mucher, who got fouled in the air by a defender.
The two teams last faced each other in September 2022, when the Aggies won by the same 3-0 score. Mucher said their win against LSU can be attributed to consistency in players as well as some changes.
“We changed up our formation a little bit,” Mucher said. “In training, we’ve been working on [playing a] 4-4-2, and I think that worked seamlessly. Compared to last year, we have a lot of the same guys and still have that hunger and intensity to keep winning.”
The second goal was scored in the 80th minute of play when a cross entered the box and was headed in by sophomore Sebastian Ramirez. Five minutes later, business administration freshman Brock Ryder dribbled through multiple defenders and shot past the goalkeeper to finish the game 3-0.
Ramirez was named “Man of the Match” and said he believes this game was another step towards the team’s goal for the year.
“We expect to be undefeated and just have to keep playing the way we are,” Ramirez said. “We have been playing good but not to our full potential, and continuing to work on consistency is key for future success.”
The team is scheduled to play Texas for its next home game on Friday, Oct. 20, at the Penberthy Rec Sports Complex. Follow the team on Instagram at @TAMUMensSoccer to stay up to date.
Zach Planche is a university studies junior and contributed this from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.