With about two minutes left in the second half, Texas A&M junior midfielder Emily Bates received a pass in the top left corner of the penalty box and put a move on an Arkansas defender to clear up an opening on goal. She then placed a beautiful left-footed shot under the Arkansas goal keeper and into the back of the net, sealing the 2-1 victory to earn the SEC tournament title for A&M.
The Aggies are now 17-2-1 on the year and have won 13 straight games after dropping their conference opener to Auburn on Sept. 15. This is the eighth conference tournament championship — third in the SEC — and 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for A&M head coach G Guerrieri and Aggie soccer since the program was created in 1993.
Following the win, Guerrieri said he was elated and proud of his team’s ability to win through adversity on the field.
“We’re going to really enjoy this and celebrate these young women,” Guerrieri said in a video on Twitter. “They are absolutely outstanding. They find ways to win no matter what happens.”
A&M and Arkansas met once previously this year on Sept. 29 in College Station with the Aggies taking the 2-1 victory.
For Arkansas, the path to the title game consisted of several upset wins. The Razorbacks shocked the top-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks in the quarterfinals beating them 1-0. They then went on to upset fourth-seeded Vanderbilt on penalty kicks in the semifinal round to advance to the championship.
Guerrieri said winning the tournament title speaks volumes for the A&M team, considering the number of elite teams they face weekly.
“Obviously a great, great afternoon for Texas A&M,” Guerrieri said in the same video. “This is really a big deal when the SEC is the number one conference in the country.”
The Aggies first started scoring in the 38th minute when senior Stephanie Malherbe sent a cross in the box and an Arkansas defender slid to try and get it out, but the ball deflected off her legs and went into the back of the net for a self goal. Arkansas’ lone goal of the game came in the 81st minute when freshman Parker Goins fired a shot in from the right side of the penalty box to tie up the game at 1.
A&M senior and SEC Tournament MVP Mikaela Harvey said coming a point short of winning the regular season title was a motivating factor throughout the tournament.
“We came in second in the SEC by one point and we were really disappointed,” Harvey said in a video on Twitter. “But we came in here knowing we had a really good shot and this team has worked so hard. When they came back, we didn’t give up and Emily Bates came in so clutch with the goal and this team deserves it so much.”
The Aggies will now wait for the NCAA selection committee to announce the tournament bracket on Monday Nov. 6.