The No. 12 ranked Texas A&M (0-1) soccer team dropped their season opener to the No. 7 ranked Duke Blue Devils (1-0) 1-0 on Friday night. The Aggies entered the second half of the game locked in a scoreless game until the Blue Devils broke the tie with 38:16 on the clock with a goal by Kim DeCesare with the assist coming from Toni Payne.
Physicality dominated the match, with neither squad refusing to back down at any turn. In the first half alone, Duke had three players go down with injuries, two of which had to exit the game permanently. Despite the goal allowed, A&M’s junior goal keeper Jordan Day accounted for five saves throughout the game, a stat not lost on head coach G Guerrieri.
“Ithought Jordan (Day) had a really good night,” Guerrieri said. “The game came down to who finished the chances that they had. They finished theirs. We didn’t finish ours.”
Throughout the match, the Aggies had multiple chances to even the score with the ball inside the Blue Devils’ box but failed to find the net. A&M had five corner kicks and 17 shots but could not convert, including a corner kick that was headed just over the goal with less than two minutes remaining.
Texas A&M will seek their first win of the season when they face UT-San Antonio Sunday night at Ellis Field.