Playing through the heat at Penberthy Rec Sports Complex, the Texas A&M men’s club soccer team dominated in a 5-1 win against UT-Rio Grande Valley on Sept. 22. Now 2-2 for the season, the Aggies must win their final three regular-season matches to qualify for the playoffs.
The Aggies and the Vaqueros both came out with strong defense on Sunday, but A&M controlled the ball until the final seconds of the first half. Economics graduate and forward Greyson Golgert began the streak by scoring the first goal in the 26th minute of the game.
Golgert praised supply chain management senior Cedric Van der Donckt, industrial distribution senior Julian Arai, economics junior Ben Galloway and architectural engineering junior Quinn Stehling.
“They all just really played well together,” Golgert said. “Really kept it just stout on the back. We really leaned heavily on them today.”
Through the first half, the Aggies dictated the run of play, with accounting sophomore Ryder Brock scoring the second goal during the 36th minute. Following close behind Brock, business honors senior Jakob Quarles scored the third goal in the 38th minute of the game.
“We just kept practicing hard,” Brock said. “Showing up, showing out, warmups. We were just driven [by] being a community team — just working with each other, playing for each other. Not just ourselves.”
Computer engineering junior Jackson Ward scored the fourth Aggie goal in the 42nd minute with three minutes left in the first half for a 4-0 lead.
As the 45th minute started to tick off, the Vaqueros finally answered the Aggies and scored, making 4-1 at the half.
Applied mathematics senior Sean Paxton said the team worked on formation and cohesion in practice before the match. What led the Aggies to allow the Vaqueros to get on the scoreboard was discussed at the halftime break.
“The one [UT-Rio Grande Valley] goal was our biggest mistake,” Paxton said. “With three minutes left, I get it’s hot, but we gotta stay focused. We kind of just turned off for two seconds there in the last minute because we thought it was over, and they just scored a goal.”
The intensity mounted in the 81st minute of the game when management information systems senior Cason Walborn scored again for a 5-1 lead. Both teams battled for possession in the final minutes. During the 88th minute, the Vaqueros passed the ball in, but the Aggies immediately kicked it out to run out the clock and end the game.
Golgert described the game as a “confidence builder.”
“I enjoyed the way we played,” Golgert said. “I really was proud of the guys for putting in the work — really just putting in the effort despite coming off of two losses.”
The Aggies will play their next match against LSU at Penberthy Rec Sports Complex on Sept. 28 at 3 p.m.
Francesca Emmitte is a journalism junior and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.
