The Texas A&M Aggie soccer team won its second consecutive home game after defeating Alabama 4-0 Friday night at Ellis Field.
No. 17 A&M’s (11-3-0, 4-2 SEC) offensive weapons, including Emily Bates who returned to the field and provided a spark, proved to be too much to handle for the Crimson Tide. Ally Watt and Bates both scored twice to help propel A&M to their fourth win in SEC play.
Head coach G Guerrieri was pleased with the team handling adversity after the two road losses and winning back to back games.
“Two convincing 4-0 wins and we held [Alabama] to just three shots on goal, and that’s the way we want to play,” said Guerrieri. “It’s unfortunate that we had to lose those two games on the road because now we’ve got to put together performances like this but the good news is we are putting forth good performances.”
Alabama (4-8-2, 1-5 SEC) didn’t have much possession but when it did, could not capitalize. All hope seemed to be lost in the 73rd minute for the Tide when midfielder Chatham DeProspo was sent off after receiving her second yellow card of the match.
Watt opened the scoring for the Aggies in the 24th minute with her second goal of the season. The freshman forward made a darting run past a defender in the box. She then released a shot to the back left post and a Crimson Tide defender attempted to clear, but put it in her own net.
A&M doubled its lead in the 36th minute through Bates. The freshman had been sidelined the previous three weeks due to injury but provided an instant impact. The striker scored seven minutes after she came on the pitch. Bates won a 50/50 ball in the air from the keeper and brought it down. The keeper tried getting the ball but Bates poked it in around her into the back of the net.
Guerrieri was pleased with the freshman’s effort and happy to see his starting forward back in action.
“Having her back makes us more like the Texas A&M teams can fear, and I thought even though she was playing with limited time she was super in her impact on the game,” said Guerrieri.
Bates made it 3-0 in the 78th minute after scoring her second goal of the match and fifth of the season. The forward made her way into the box and faked a shot. The defender bit on it and Bates pushed the ball to the side and drilled a shot into the bottom left corner.
After the match Bates discussed returning to action and her two goals.
“I have been [dying to get back on the field.] My teammates made it really easy for me, with the great cross by Karlie [Mueller], and the perfect ball by Kate [Hadju] so I had the easy part of just passing it in the goal,” said Bates.
Watt added an exclamation point to the Aggie victory in the 87th minute after she scored on a header off of a Kristi Leonard corner kick putting the team up 4-0.
Watt discussed finally being able to score twice and being clinical with her finishes.
“I’ve been working hard at it and the teams been really supportive with me telling me that I’m going to [score]. Both my goals were from a team effort. If it wasn’t for the buildup and for the assists to me we wouldn’t have got those two goals.”
The Aggies heavily outshot the Crimson tide with a margin of 27-11. A&M put 13 on target compared to Alabama’s 3. A&M has now outscored its opponents 8-0 in the last two home games.
The Aggies will resume action on Sunday when they travel to the state of Alabama to take on No. 8 Auburn in what will be a ranked SEC matchup. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the match can be seen on the SEC Network +.
