Texas A&M men’s club soccer opened its six-game spring season with a commanding 10-0 victory, controlling the game from the opening whistle.
The Aggies kicked off spring on Saturday, March 2, with a rout of Bell County FC at Penberthy Rec Sports Complex. Although the Aggies are not playing for a trophy this season, the games will develop new talent, graduate center back Bryant Mcarthur said.
Opening in their standard 4-3-3 formation, the Maroon and White struck first and opened the scoring in the second minute of play. Sophomore attacking midfielder Sebastian Ramirez got a hold of a loose ball and slotted it past the goalkeeper.
“It was nice to get one early,” graduate Alex Gutenberg said. “First game of the spring season there’s going to be nerves, but I think getting that first one so early on in the game got everybody into the game.”
A&M continued to put the pressure on Bell County FC and dominated possession of the ball. The Aggies had a seventh-minute goal ruled out for offside, but they doubled their lead through a penalty by sophomore Stephen Mucher in the ninth minute.
Bell County FC failed to force a save from the A&M goalkeepers, but the best chance came when a free kick hit the woodwork from roughly 30-yards out.
After bringing on a pair of substitutions, A&M was rewarded when junior Rishi Venkateswaran crossed the ball from the right flank to sophomore Jackson Ward for an easy finish. Sophomore Quinn Stehling added another goal just before halftime to make it 4-0 at the break for the Aggies.
Three new Aggies joined the scoresheet in the second half with goals from sophomore Alfred Fairchild, junior Julian Arai and junior Sean Paxton. Stehling scored again, and Ward finished a hat trick with a penalty on one of the last kicks of the game to make the score 10-0 for A&M.
“We are going to have some more competition that we are going to have to focus on,” Gutenberg said. “Obviously, we’re not going to score 10 goals every game, but it should be fun.”
Men’s soccer has five more games scheduled, including an alumni game on April 27 to finish the year.
