After a frustrating defeat to Oklahoma on Sunday, Texas A&M soccer responded by leaning on its attack to beat No. 5 Auburn in commanding 4-1 fashion on Thursday at Ellis Field.
“I told the players [that] they absolutely deserved it, their effort was outstanding,” coach G Guerrieri said. “All the preparation this week was about knowing that we have two big opportunities this week, and we had a big opportunity last week and kind of let one slip out of our hands. They were determined [to] not allow that to happen.”
The match’s decisive moment came in the 24th minute when a cross lofted in from the left flank. Graduate midfielder Taylor Pounds ran onto the ball, leaped in the air and got there a tick before Auburn graduate goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska. The two players clattered into each other in a scary collision, resulting in an A&M penalty.
A hush fell over the Ellis Field crowd as Prohaska stayed down for several minutes with a head injury. After play resumed, junior M Sydney Becerra fired the penalty past Prohaska and into the bottom left corner to net her fourth goal of the season and put the Maroon and White up 1-0.
Prohaska attempted to play through the pain but was forced out of the match in the 26th minute after taking a knee. Redshirt sophomore GK Taylor Richards replaced her between the sticks.
Prior to the goal, the match had no clear-cut scoring opportunities. A&M had five shots, but all were weak efforts that went wide or were routine saves for Prohaska. In the 19th minute, Becerra had a free kick opportunity just outside the penalty area, but her tame free kick was blocked by the wall. The Aggies ended the half with 12 shots, four of which were on goal, while the Tigers got three shots off with one on-target attempt that was stopped by freshman GK Sydney Fuller.
“It was great to have Syd back playing at her level because [with] a lot of those balls that were served into her, a lot of goalkeepers, especially 18-year old goalkeepers, don’t have that poise to make it look so easy and she was pretty effortless in her ability to win balls in the air,” Guerrieri said.
When the second half kicked off, the Aggies took control and put the Tigers under unrelenting pressure, with the majority of the game being played in Auburn’s defensive half. A&M peppered the Auburn net with shots, finishing the match with 22 total to Auburn’s 11.
The confetti cannons fired again early on in the second period when the Aggies doubled their lead through senior defender Macy Matula’s header off of senior M/D Mia Pante’s corner kick delivery. Matula knocked the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal and squeezed it through a scrum of bodies for her first goal of the year as Pante claimed her second assist of the season.
The party continued for A&M in the 67th minute when graduate M/forward Kate Colvin slid a ball across the turf from the right wing into the path of sophomore M Grace Ivey. The Jacksonville, Florida native calmly skipped it past the keeper to slot the ball into an empty net, putting the Maroon and White up 3-0.
After A&M redshirt freshman D Bella James earned her second yellow card of the match in the 81st minute, the Aggies were forced to see the remaining minutes of the game out with ten women. Just two minutes later, Auburn would get one back when sophomore F Jordyn Crosby flicked a header over Fuller to make it 3-1. The goal was Fuller’s seventh goal allowed in as many starts.
A&M put the exclamation point on the match with a 90th minute Becerra goal to send the Ellis Field crowd home happy with a 4-1 victory.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our players and the effort because Auburn’s a terrific side. They are No. 5 in this country for a reason,” Guerrieri said.
