The giant that is Texas A&M soccer has fallen.
One of only four schools to reach the last 26 NCAA soccer tournaments, the Aggies will not be appearing in the bracket this year.
An injury-plagued season left A&M at 7-8-2 and 3-5-1 in conference play, just on the edge of SEC Tournament contention. On Thursday, Oct. 28, the Aggies had a chance for salvation and entry into the tournament when they faced off against Missouri.
As the maroon and white left College Station for a road trip to Columbia, Mo., the team held a tie-breaker win over LSU, whose spot in the SEC Tournament it would steal with a win away from home. Only the top 10 teams in the conference earn a spot in the tournament that grants an automatic NCAA Tournament berth, and A&M teetered between 10th and 11th place. While the win would have presented four more must-win games, it was the last hope to keep the streak alive.
The game opened as a scrappy, back-and-forth effort between the teams as they combined for five fouls while both teams recorded two shots and an offside call in just the first 14 minutes of action. However, disaster struck late in the 14th minute for the Aggies when Missouri got a ball past junior A&M goalkeeper Kenna Caldwell.
With the Tigers’ 1-0 lead and postseason play in the balance, A&M tightened up its play. The Aggies took a total of nine shots to Mizzou’s four in the first half, but came up short on each attempt as the Tigers recorded two saves.
The unrelenting A&M offensive force continued into the second half as the maroon and white took 12 shots and 7 corner kicks through the 87th minute. Five saves from Mizzou were just enough to hold the score to 1-0 in its favor.
In the 88th minute, sophomore forward Lauren Geczik took what appeared to be the score-tying shot, but the goal was not counted due to a whistle on a foul. Sophomore midfielder Barbara Olivieri took the free kick off of the foul, but her shot was stopped.
With one last effort, A&M earned a corner kick with 20 seconds left in the game. A resulting shot from freshman defender Macy Matula soared just left of the goal, and after five seconds, the whistle was blown. Tigers won, 1-0.
Despite dominating the stat sheets, the early lead proved insurmountable for the Aggies as the Tigers sent A&M on a long trip home with no postseason play in sight. The maroon and white wrapped up the 2021 campaign 7-9-2 overall and 3-6-1 in SEC play, just one win short of a tournament berth. The records are the first under .500 results in team history.
The loss and its implications on the season leave A&M coach G Guerrieri and the Aggies out of the postseason for the third time since the team’s inception in 1993, with the last time being 1994.