With a lead in the closing minutes and a chance to clinch a share of the SEC title, the Aggies let South Carolina back in the game.
No. 6 Texas A&M tied 2-2 with No. 21 South Carolina on Sunday evening at Ellis Field.
“They’re mad at themselves that they left one off the hook,” Aggie head coach Coach G Guerreri said. “I remind them now that they have to win, we’re now in a position where we have to do what we were expected to do anyway and that’s to come in on Thursday night against a very good Georgia team and win.”
The Gamecocks (11-4-3) delivered the first score of the match thanks to Andie Romness. It marked her second goal of the year on an untouched free kick taken far out on the left side of the field.
A&M (14-2-2) started with plenty of opportunities, but could not get anything going offensively for the majority of the first half.
Momentum picked up for the Aggies, however, when they struck a handful of shots in the closing minutes of the half. Eventually, they evened the score with a Janae Cousineau goal off a Liz Keester corner. The equalizer marked Cousineau’s 6th straight game with a goal.
Kelley Monogue found the net just 13 seconds into the second half for the Aggies.
Annie Kunz connected with the senior on the right side, where the shot went off the fingertips of goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo and into the upper-left corner of the goal.
With a minute to play, South Carolina’s Stevi Parker fired in a goal from 40 yards out at the middle of the field. The game would then go into overtime.
The game snapped the Aggies five game-winning streak.
“You have to give South Carolina a lot of credit,” Guerreri said. “They came out to play, and their backs are up against the wall as far as needing to put themselves in a better position for the SEC tournament and for the NCAA tournament.”
Since the Florida Gators won 3-0 over LSU Sunday afternoon, A&M has a one-point lead over Florida in the standings. To win the SEC, A&M still needs to win its final game or count on Florida to lose to Vanderbilt.
The Aggies will compete 7 p.m. Thursday against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Senior forward Bianca Brinson dribbles against South Carolina.
Photo by Cody Franklin