A&M soccer upset No. 19 Alabama 3-1, at Ellis Field on Sunday, Oct. 8, a stark contrast to its last game, in which the Aggies suffered a disappointing loss to Vanderbilt.
“Tonight we finally showed … how we can play, and it was great for the girls to show themselves that they can finish off a match,” coach G Guerrieri said. “This is a big win for us, not only is Alabama ranked in the Coaches Poll, but also No. 11 in the national RPI, [making] this our second top-25 RPI win, [and] a big postseason boost for us.”
Both the Aggies and the Crimson Tide produced similar offensive numbers in the first half, with both sides putting up seven shots each.
In the 39th minute, junior midfielder Carissa Beockmann received her first yellow card of the match after she fouled an Alabama player in order to prevent an offensive opportunity. Other than this, both sides showed up defensively in the first half, going into half deadlocked at zero.
The Crimson Tide struck first in the second half during the 52nd minute when senior midfielder Felicia Knox played the ball across the front of the goal to sophomore forward Gianna Paul, who then placed a shot to the bottom-right of the goal.
Despite this, A&M did not waste time to respond, as senior midfielder Taylor Pounds received the ball off a deflection from the Alabama defense and blasted a shot that sailed past the left of the goalkeeper to tie the game.
“Honestly I kind of blacked out,“ Pounds said. “Maile [Hayes] worked really hard to win the ball [against the] center back so I knew I needed to put the ball in the back of the net.
“About time,” Pounds said. “We knew we could play at [this] level, we just needed to finish our chances … Tonight gave us that confidence to keep finishing as we go forward.”
The next score came in the 57th minute, when Hayes crossed the ball to junior midfielder Mia Pante waiting on the left hash. Pante then beat a Crimson Tide defender and snuck a shot past the keeper to take the lead, 2-1.
In the 83rd minute, senior forward Jazmine Wilkinson received the ball from sophomore midfielder Sydney Beccera, who played the ball perfectly onside past the last defenders for a one-on-one opportunity against the goalkeeper. Afterwards, Wilkinson tapped the ball in the bottom-right corner for Aggies’ third score of the night.
Next, A&M will travel to Auburn, Alabama to face off against the Tigers on Friday, Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Auburn Soccer Complex.