Despite the relentless effort of the Aggies, Sunday night’s soccer game between Texas A&M and Brown University ended in a 0-0 draw.
From opening kickoff, it took both squads significant time to ease into the game; however, A&M was able to control the majority of possession and dictate pace throughout the entirety of the match, while Brown sat tight on defense and worked to stifle A&M’s attack.
“[Brown] kept 10 players behind the ball the whole night,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “They leave here with what they were looking for.”
After struggling to dissect Brown’s defense going forward, the late first half substitutions of Katie Smith and Ásdís Halldórsdóttir gave the Aggies more speed and attack. They were able to put more pressure on the Brown defense through assertive linking passes and ball movement, creating several chances and earning a couple of corners.
The Aggies’ closest chance of the first half came when Smith cut inward from the right wing, sending a shot goalward from outside the box that curved just wide of the near post.
In the second half, the game picked up right where it left off with the Aggies creating chance after chance, but never managing to find the back of the net. Through two overtime periods, A&M finished with 21 shots, only six on target; Brown only managed four shots with one on target.
In spite of the disappointing draw for A&M, sophomore defensive anchor Karlina Sample said she was encouraged by the Aggies’ overall performance.
“That was one of our better games,” Sample said. “We had possession a lot and we had a lot of chances, we just couldn’t finish them. It was more of what we didn’t do than what they did to us.”
For A&M (4-0-2), this season’s undefeated streak will be tested with an upcoming challenge against No. 10 Brigham Young University at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Sample said going into BYU, A&M needs to keep working hard in order to sharpen their performance and efficiency.
“In practices we’re really going to have to pick up our intensity,” Sample said. “BYU have a great atmosphere on campus, on their field. We’re going to have to be ready for that. We’re going to have to pick it up.”
Senior midfielder Grace Piper said A&M will need more urgency against BYU.
“We came out a little flat in the first half, which we definitely can’t do next week against BYU or we’ll be down 2-0 before we know it,” Piper said. “We know we beat them last year, so they’re going to want their revenge. We want to keep the undefeated streak going, so it’s a big game for us.”