Shea Groom’s hat trick was difference as the Texas A&M Aggies (7-1-1) extended their home winning streak to 15 with a 3-0 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers (4-4-0) to begin SEC play.
A&M was winless in three attempts against the Volunteers until Thursday night’s victory at Ellis Field. They had also failed to register a goal in any of their prior contests against the Tennessee soccer program, all 1-0 defeats.
Groom’s second career hat trick gave the Aggies all three goals to even up the series contest in goals scored.
19 minutes into a rain filled first half, junior Karlie Mueller assisted on a header by Groom to give A&M a 1-0 lead.
“I think it’s such a cool atmosphere,” Groom said. “I just stopped for a moment and took it in. It’s not many times you get to play in pouring down rain with your teammates. Complete soccer weather.”
A&M’s quick start offense continued to be as advertised, racking up 13 first half shots compared to the Volunteers two, neither of which were on goal.
The Aggie offense kept Volunteer goalkeeper Jamie Simmons busy in the first half with six total shots on goal in the first half from Allie Bailey, Mueller, Meghan Streight, Janae Cousineau and two from Groom.
Nine-year old Quinn Pesicka, currently battling cancer, was in attendance as a special guest to the Aggies. The team arranged for a raffle to be held with all proceeds donated to the Pesicka family.
Minute 59 saw the A&M lead increase to 2-0 when Cousineau assisted on Groom’s second goal of the contest with a well-placed header. The goal, scored just a few yards from the net, was the seventh of Mueller’s senior campaign.
In total, A&M held a 26-5 shot advantage over Tennessee including a 13-2 advantage in shots on goal. Kelley Monogue and Groom led the team with six shots apiece, while Streight added four.
“We feel like the best defense is a strong attack,” A&M head coach G Guerreri said. “If we have the ball they can’t score. If we have it we can score. That’s exactly what happened. We were able to keep them from getting too many dangerous chances.”
For Tennessee, Susan Ferguson and Anna McClung both had shots on goal.
Groom completed her hat trick in the 89^th minute, challenging Simmons and succeeded with a sliding kick shortly before time expired. Despite her personal achievements she focused mainly on the team’s success and finding themselves 1-0 in conference play.
“Tennesee has always been a tough match up for us. It’s great to start off with a 3-0 win. It was a good team win and was a complete game for us for the first time this season.”
Aggie goalkeeper Renee McDermott needed only two saves on the night to earn a shutout for the Maroon and White.
The 2-0 victory accounted for the 199^th win overall at Ellis Field.
A&M travels to LSU for their next contest, a 7 p.m. matchup against the Tigers on September 26^th.