Texas A&M women’s club soccer defeated LSU, 3-2, on Sunday, Oct. 5, at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex in College Station in front of stands filled with parents, siblings, grandparents and more than one furry friend who cheered the Aggies to victory. Following the victory A&M is now 4-0-1 in regular season play. 

The Aggies lost to the Tigers last year in the regular season, and this win moves the Aggies to No. 3 in the Texas Collegiate Soccer League and No. 2  in the Women’s Premier Division, according to www.imleagues.com. This year, the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Regional Tournament will be hosted by the Aggies in College Station on Oct. 31 through Nov. 2. 

Eight minutes into the match, public health sophomore center forward Kaiya Bullock scored the only goal of the first half for the Aggies. LSU joined the scoring proceedings with a goal in the 19th minute and again in the 34th minute, causing A&M to trail LSU 2-1 going into halftime. 

“LSU is someone we always struggle against,” Bullock said. “They’re honestly probably one of our biggest rivals. Last year, we actually lost to them during the season, so getting this one is really important to get us a good spot in regionals.”

Fifteen minutes into the second half, health senior center midfielder Anneliese Covarrubias had an injury timeout and did not play the rest of the game. After the game, Covarrubias said she was not seriously injured. 

“When I got smacked in the face,” Covarrubias said, “I kind of thought it was a little embarrassing, I’m not even going to lie.” 

After halftime, the Aggies came out and tied the game 2-2  25 minutes into the second half, and took the lead, 3-2, 32 minutes into the second half. During halftime, the team spoke about how defense, midfield and the attack had to come together in order to win, Covarrubias said.

“We just needed to realize how we play,” Covarrubias said. “We came out, and we played like we wanted to win.”

Bullock scored all three goals, including the second-half game-winner.

“I feel like I could rely on doing the same thing I did in the first one,” Bullock said. “I had a better chance of just dribbling around [LSU], but I was really relieved just to get the goal cause it was a great ball, and I didn’t want to mess that up for my team.”  

LSU is a hard opponent that gives an aggressive game every year, coach Devonn Mendoza said. 

“Historically, we’ve always had a run at LSU,” Mendoza said. “They’ve always been a really good team. [LSU is] very physical, might I say even a little dirty, but they play good football.”

Next up in the schedule, A&M  will be traveling to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 1 p.m.