The Texas A&M soccer team bounced back after losing two straight with a 4-0 home win over Mississippi State on Friday night at Ellis Field.
The No. 16 Aggies (10-3-0, 3-2-0 SEC) dominated the possession and shots, outshooting Mississippi State 16-5. The Aggies gave the Bulldogs trouble all night and most of the match was played in Mississippi State’s final third.
Mississippi State (3-6-3, 1-2-2 SEC) played physical throughout the match. The Bulldogs received four yellow cards after going into challenges hard and tackling from behind. Goalkeeper Tanya De Souza did what she could to keep Mississippi State in the match, but the Aggie offense proved to be too difficult.
McKayla Paulson opened the scoring for the Aggies in the 12th minute. Haley Pounds sent in a corner and, after bouncing around for five seconds, the ball fell to Paulson who volleyed it home with the outside of her foot.
Paulson discussed after the match how she was able to score her third goal of the season.
“We talk about inches on corners when we’re attacking or defending,” Paulson said. “Every inch matters and that one was just a pure effort goal [of] whoever got there first.”
Brittany Crabtree doubled the lead for the Aggies in the 56th minute. Stephanie Malherbe unleashed a rocket from 20 yards off the crossbar and Crabtree was in the right place as she gathered the rebound and put it in the back of the net off the inside of the right post from 10 yards out.
In the 66th minute, the Aggies effectively ended the match after Karlie Mueller picked out Pounds in the box and the sophomore headed the ball into the bottom right corner past De Souza to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead. Pounds now has nine goals on the season and remains the Aggies leading scorer.
Pounds said her teammates have played a big role in helping her become the team’s leading scorer.
“My teammates are putting me in good positions to score,” Pounds said. “They’ve played me excellent balls to get on they’re the ones putting me in those spots.”
The Aggies added a fourth goal in the 88th minute after Cousineau jumped up and battled the keeper for a ball that was sent in on a free kick. Cousineau reached the ball first and headed it backwards over the keeper into the back of the net.
Coach Guerrieri said he was pleased with the team fighting back from adversity after the losses on the road.
“I thought it was exactly the kind of response from a championship team you have to have,” Guerreri said. “We’re the back-to-back defending [SEC] champions to come out and set the pace from the get go and we set the style of play. We knew that Mississippi State was going to be very physical. They were going to add some chaotic moments like from the throw ins and the corner kick and I thought our players dealt with that very well. I was very pleased with Mia [Hummel] and the defense to get a shutout. Really, to only hold them to one shot and that shot was from 55 yards, that’s a very good performance.”
The Aggies will continue SEC play next Friday as they host Alabama. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on the SEC Network plus.
