With the regular season drawing to a close, Texas A&M soccer and No. 3 Mississippi State fought a defense-heavy battle that saw senior night spoiled with a 2-0 loss.
The A&M corps of senior midfielder Mia Pante, junior M Sydney Becerra and sophomore M Grace Ivey maintained constant pressure on the Bulldog defense early in the contest, registering six shots and six corner kicks in the first half between the three players.
Despite the amount of shots generated, the Aggies were consistently coming up just short of breaking through the defensive front and could not put together the finish needed to punch in a goal. The Bulldogs on the other hand were unable to close their own drives and found themselves in a stalemate going into the second half.
Freshman goalkeeper Sydney Fuller played a massive role in keeping the game within reach in the opening half, delivering another stellar first-half performance in the face of a top-5 opponent following her shutout of No. 4 Arkansas on Thursday. Fuller tacked on a save in the midst of a few diving efforts to keep the Mississippi State offense from cashing in a goal early in the match.
Her second half act, however, was unable to ward off junior M Ally Perry’s goal in the 50th minute. Perry’s shot sailed over Fuller’s head following an assist from freshman M Kennedy Husbands, forcing an Aggie comeback victory attempt.
This tall task would become even more difficult as Mississippi State added to its lead again in the 78th minute by way of graduate forward Elle McCaslin, whose low-velocity roller slipped past a lunging Fuller into the right corner of the net.
Despite being down two to nil, the A&M offense did its best to stay in the game against Mississippi State and did not shy away from their offensive attack on graduate GK Maddy Anderson, who was tested all evening. Anderson finished the contest with five saves and fended off the Aggies’ eight corner kicks.
Both sophomore M Taylor Jernigan and freshman M Kat Campbell attempted to provide a second-half spark hot enough to close the gap against the Bulldogs. To no avail, as the Aggies have remained winless since their Oct. 4 victory over Ole Miss in Oxford.
“We’ve been in do-or-die situations for quite a while now, [and] it’s why every call made is a big deal,” coach G Guerrieri said. “We have been living life on the balcony and have been trying to walk that tightrope a little bit, ”
Sunday evening’s loss marks the fifth shoutout loss in conference play this season and has A&M sitting at the 11th spot in the conference. With the top-14 teams in the conference moving on to the SEC Tournament, perhaps the Aggies can muster a late season push to earn a bid in the NCAA Tournament.
With three offside and seven foul calls against A&M, the team will have to do a lot more than just tighten up loose ends to capitalize on the opportunity of the conference tournament.
“We create more shots than anyone else in the SEC,” Guerrieri said. “We just haven’t score[d] any goals. We’ve got about five or six days to prepare and fine-tune that a little bit.”
The Aggies await a bid in the SEC Tournament, with the first round of play beginning Nov. 3 in Pensacola, Florida.
