2011 was the last time Texas A&M lost three games in a row, but the team was handed its third loss in a row on Thursday night, 1-0, to No. 5 South Carolina at Ellis Field.
The Gamecocks’ (11-0, 5-0 SEC) Savannah McCaskill — who is second in the nation in goals scored, found the back of the net on a long ball from junior Lindsey Lane with three minutes remaining in the match. For the season, McCaskill has 11 goals — the most in the SEC.
“First off South Carolina is a heck of a good team,” head coach G Guerrieri said following the loss. “That’s 11 wins now in a row, that’s the most by anyone in the country. I thought that we basically protected the spaces in the middle of the park, we kept McCaskill off of the ball for most of the game. And good for her that she found a way, a creative way to bring it down and score.”
A&M (7-5, 2-3 SEC) went 67 minutes of the match without having a shot on goal as they struggled to push the ball up the field against the teeth of the Gamecock’s defense.
The team finished with three shots to South Carolina’s 10 — with all their chances coming in the second half, but none were enough to put a goal on the board.
“They [South Carolina] came out really well in the first 15 minutes and established a good level of possession,” Guerrieri said. “So, it tooks us awhile to get ourselves into the game… We felt good coming out of halftime that we would be able to have a better run at in the second half.”
A&M saw junior Olympian Stephanie Malherbe return to the lineup tonight and she said she was happy to be back and despite dropping three games, the team has a lot to build on.
“I think it’s essential at this point to stay positive and stay united as a team rather getting down on ourselves,” Malherbe said. “We still have plenty of opportunities to beat really good opposition and move up in the SEC. So we just need to focus taking it one game at time.”
South Carolina’s goal did raise speculation according to senior defender Grace Wright, who said the defense was told it was a handball by one of the refs, but the ref said the handball wasn’t enough to call the goal off.
“The ref said it was a handball but it didn’t change the path of the ball,” Wright said. “So, you can’t really argue with that. He clearly knew it hit her hand, but he just thought it was accidental. I don’t know how you can defend when it hits a hand — that’s not supposed to happen.”
Sophomore Kate Hajdu is out for the season and will have ACL surgery — sophomore Emily Bates and senior Ashlynn Harryman are hopeful to return, according to Guerreri.
The Aggies return to the pitch on Oct. 6 to host Mizzou at Ellis Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will broadcast on the SEC Network +.
