Outshot, outpaced and ultimately outplayed.
As strong as Texas A&M soccer played early on, Alabama’s early go-ahead strike in the 20th minute set the tone for the rest of the game that proved to be too much for the Aggies as the Crimson Tide handed A&M a 1-0 loss Sunday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The shot output was there for the Maroon and White, applying immediate pressure for Alabama junior goalkeeper Ellie Lanyi as she totaled four saves in the first half. The Aggies’ midfield duo of junior Sydney Becerra and senior Mia Pante sought low strikes, shooting bottom left and right but came up short from the saving efforts of Lanyi.
While A&M kept falling short, the Crimson Tide found themselves a perfect counterattack after sophomore MF Nadia Ramadan gave the perfect through ball to junior forward Gianna Paul, who outpaced the Aggies’ backline and struck gold with a bottom right shot.
Despite their best efforts of trying to find a first-half equalizer, the Aggies instead collected two offsides and their remaining shots were wayward of being on target.
Though A&M outshot Alabama in the first half, eight shots to four, the script flipped for the gas-pedal seeking Crimson Tide. They turned on the Bunsen burners, shooting 17 times in the second half while the Aggies were held to just four attempts.
The Alabama attack was led by its four-headed attacking dragon of sophomore MF Cameron Silva, graduate MF Kate Henderson, senior F Nedya Sawan and senior defender Zivana Labovic. The quartet combined for 12 of Alabama’s 17 second half shots, with Sawan single-handedly tying A&M’s second half attempts.
The aggressiveness searching for the Tide’s second goal meant that it was freshman GK Sydney Fuller’s turn to become the hero, saving Alabama shots everywhere from bottom center to the top of the goal, totaling five saves in the second period. On the other side of the pitch, Lanyi’s second half was a lot more laxed, saving the lone shot on goal up the middle from graduate F Jazmine Wilkinson.
In a similar fate from the first half, the Aggies’ last shot came at only the 77th minute as Alabama relentlessly kept possession and kept shooting away until the final whistle blew.
After a strong start to the season, A&M has been on a bumpy road, dropping its last two games to conference opponents including a 4-4 away record this year. The Maroon and White come back to Ellis Field on Friday, Oct. 18 — where they hold a positive 4-3 home record — against the LSU Tigers, who are going through trials and tribulations of their own at 2-5 in SEC play on a four-match losing streak.
