Taylor Jernigan, this is your magic moment.
The junior forward made sure Texas A&M soccer came out on top of its rematch against UConn on Aug. 23, after the 6-0 mauling the Aggies received last season. The 2nd-largest regular season crowd in program history came in handy, as the Maroon and White came out on top with a 2-1 win over the Huskies.
“It’s amazing, the fans are amazing, the team is amazing,” Jernigan said. “It’s so much hard work that really just came to a head.”
A&M held its own in the first half, as coach G Guerrieri’s squad has high hopes with a team full of new faces. Only two starters for the Aggies saw action against the Huskies last season: junior F Kennedy Clark and sophomore midfielder Kat Campell.
The Huskies came out of the gates hot, despite not starting with the ball, as it took only 46 seconds for junior F Alayna Taylor to get a shot on goal for UConn. However, things drastically slowed down for the Huskies as this was their last shot until the 36th minute.
“We’ve really been focusing on defense,” senior defender Bella Yakel said. “Every game you can see the chemistry just grow and grow between the back line, through the midfield and up top. And I think over these past few games, we’ve been moving more together as a unit.”
Tulsa transfer junior F Leah Diaz led the charge for A&M in the early going. The Aggies played several successful through balls down the wing to Diaz, but both of the Richardson native’s shots went wide left, failing to test UConn’s true freshmen goalkeeper Ava Yamas.
“You never really know what it’s like in the doghouse until you get there,” Jernigan said. “As a freshman, I mean, I’m sure she’s very good. She did have quite a few saves, but we really just wanted to pound that goal and make sure that anything was on frame just to test her a little bit more in the game.”
In the 24th minute, the Aggies managed something they never even sniffed in the two team’s previous meeting — a lead — thanks to who else but junior M Trinity Buchanan. The UNLV transfer scored for the third match in a row, appearing to have brought her Las Vegas luck to College Station.
Time was winding down in the first half when UConn received a free kick in the 41st minute. Fifth-year senior D Kaitlyn Richins stepped up to the ball from nearly 45 yards away from goal. The 2024 third-team All-American scored her first goal as a Husky, lofting the ball right over sophomore GK Sydney Fuller’s gloves.
Come the second half it was the Aggies who dominated possession, refusing to even give the Huskies a clean shot on-goal. A&M was desperate to take the lead and avenge their embarrassment from a year prior, but it just couldn’t hit the back of the net.
Buchanan did everything she could in the UConn penalty area before being given a yellow card in the 64th minute for bringing down a defender in hopes of drawing a hail-mary penalty call.
It looked like the annual Fish Camp game would end in a draw, much to the chagrin of the 6,857 fans in attendance. That was until the 85th minute, when freshman F Holly Storer sent the ball off the right wing, across the face of the goal and onto the feet of Jernigan, outclassing freshman D Ines Nourani.
The San Antonio native banged the ball with her left foot into the bottom left corner of the goal past Yamas, giving A&M a 2-1 lead with just five minutes remaining. The Aggies held onto their lead, finally ending the conversation about last season’s disaster.
“This is a team that we lost to 6-0 last year,” Guerrieri said. “They’re a really well-coached team, as you can see the way they played…So I’m really, really proud of our players.”
Now 2-0-2, A&M will travel to face Denver on Aug. 28, in another rematch of a 2024 non-conference match that the Aggies lost.
