The Texas A&M soccer team ended its three-game road losing streak after defeating Kentucky 1-0..
The Aggies lone goal came from forward Ally Watt, and the defense kept a clean sheet ensuring the Aggies a move up the SEC leaderboard.
Despite being outshot 8-4, the No. 22 Aggies (12-4, 5-3 SEC) took advantage of their chances and were clinical in their finishing. A&M put three of its four total shots on target and held the shots on goal advantage 3-2.
Kentucky (9-4-3, 3-3-2) had its opportunities but couldn’t make the most of them with the Aggie defense adding pressure. The Wildcats have now been shutout in their last three games, recording a tie and two losses.
Ally Watt opened the scoring with 4:58 remaining in the first half after scoring her fourth goal of the season. Midfielder Mikaela Harvey found Watt in the Kentucky half, and Watt finished the job to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. The freshman raced by multiple defenders and slotted the ball to the left side of the net past the keeper.
A&M head coach G Guerrieri told the SEC Network after the win how pleased he was with the result.
“That’s a great win for us,” Guerrieri said. “We put together a gritty effort and got a much-needed road win. I thought Ally [Watt] had some brilliance and scored a great goal when offense was hard to come by in the first half. We played smart in the second half. We were better at maintaining some possession and did a good job of keeping Kentucky’s offense from getting good shots.”
Guerrieri went on to praise the Aggies defensive effort.
“It was a strong performance all across the backline,” said Guerrieri. “I was proud of the way that Kendall Ritchie played in her first career start. She really neutralized one of Kentucky’s top offensive players. Ashlynn Harryman also had a really good performance. She really snuffed out any attack the Wildcats tried down the middle of the field.”
A&M will return to action next Friday when it hosts Arkansas at Ellis Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the match can be seen on SEC Network +.
