Texas A&M soccer’s “three-game top 10 gauntlet” continued to take its toll on the Aggies, resulting in the maroon and white’s second consecutive loss of the season.
Coming off of a 1-0 loss to the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles, A&M walked into Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 22 ready to bring down the No. 8 Texas Christian Horned Frogs. In the end, a sold-out crowd with fans wearing purple and white, paired with an uncharacteristically lackluster offensive showing, proved to be too much for the Aggies.
Head coach G Guerrieri said he was disappointed in the overall outcome of the game, as he knows his athletes are capable of performing at a higher level.
“We can’t come in and play as poorly as we started and expect to get a [winning] result against a quality team like TCU,” Guerrieri said.
The Horned Frogs managed to take an early lead in the 11th minute with an unfortunate own goal, deflected off of A&M senior defender Karlina Sample.
Three yellow cards and multiple free kicks throughout the first half gave the maroon and white plenty of opportunities to knot the score, including a last-second push down the middle, but none came to fruition. 
The home team doubled its lead in the 77th minute when a grazing kick by midfielder Gracie Bryan, connecting inside the box, put just enough spin on the ball to find the back of the net.
In true maroon and white fashion, the Aggies put themselves back within one in the 76th minute. Sophomore Taylor Pounds caught the Horned Frogs off guard by leaving her usual midfield position and pushing into the box to chip in her first goal of the season. Freshman forwards Maile Hayes and Makhiya McDonald eached notched their first collegiate assists in the process.
A final surge down the middle by A&M ultimately fell short, locking the score at 2-1.
The maroon and white struggled in almost every tangible statistic on the evening, trailing its opposition in shots, 10-6; shots on goal, 3-1; fouls, 15-8; and corners, 5-4. The only slight advantage for A&M came in the form of six yellow cards called against the ultimate victor, though the home team’s aggressiveness seemingly paid off.
Until Sunday, the Aggies had maintained a perfect 13-0-0 all-time record over the Horned Frogs. The teams last met just four short months ago when A&M secured the 1-0 upset over its then-No. 3 ranked opponent.
Guerrieri said while the game ended up being close on the scoreboard, the Horned Frogs more than earned their victory.
“We didn’t play well enough to win,” Guerrieri said. “TCU took advantage of that, like top-10 teams do.”
The Aggies depart from Fort Worth with a 0-2-0 record, marking the first time the team has opened the regular schedule of play with two losses since its inaugural season in 1993.
A&M currently holds the third-longest active streak of consecutive winning seasons in collegiate soccer, posting an above–.500 resume for each of its last 28 campaigns. Having fallen below that mark thus far this season, Guerrieri said his athletes have some serious work to do if they want to contend for league titles at the end of the season.
“We’ll be happy to get back home and get a solid week of practice and training,” Guerrieri said.
The Aggies return to action Saturday, Aug. 28 for the team’s home opener when the No. 7 Clemson Tigers make the trek to Ellis Field in College Station. A&M will fight to not only earn its first win of the season, but also prevent itself from beginning the season 0-3-0 for the first time in program history. 
Saturday will also spotlight the return of the maroon and white’s annual Fish Camp game, consistently ranking among the most attended collegiate soccer games in the nation. Tickets are now available for purchase at 12thManFoundation.com, and any freshman or counselor who attended Fish Camp can gain free entry by wearing the t-shirt they received while at camp.