The Texas A&M soccer team kicked off its NCAA Tournament campaign Friday night at Ellis Field with a 1-0 win over the Lamar Cardinals, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. A&M (18-2-1) has now won 14-straight games.
“The energy that Lamar had was awesome,” Aggie head coach G Guerrieri said. “The way they were experiencing the night was exactly what you want. For us to be able to get the win and move on to the second round is great. This was I think the twentieth year in a row we’ve been able to win a game in the tournament and move forward.”
The first half was dominated by the Aggies as they opened the scoring early in the 9th minute. The only goal of the game was scored when sophomore forward Ally Watt crossed a ball in front of the Lamar goal as it was deflected by a Lamar defender and into the back of the net for an own goal. This was the third straight game with an own goal for the Aggies.
At the end of the half, the Aggies had nine shots, four on goal, with five corners and no saves, while Lamar finished the half with three shots, none on goal, no corners and three saves.
“I think it shows all the hard work we’ve put in,” Watt said about the 14-game win streak. “We’ve been training since the summer, a lot of us were here doing a lot of conditioning. It really shows all the hard work and all the chemistry we’ve built together as a team this season.”
The second half was again dominated by the Aggies as they constantly peppered Lamar keeper Lauren Lovejoy with shots, despite never putting one in. The Aggies would have loved to put another one in the back of the net, but the own goal in the first half would ultimately allow A&M to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“They really brought the work ethic and they played really hard and physical,” senior midfielder Stephanie Malherbe said. “They got numbers behind the ball, so when we weren’t attacking quickly and taking advantage of the space on transition plays, they were able to get behind and pack it in and made it really difficult for us to get behind them.”
A&M finished with 20 shots, ten on goal, nine corners and two saves, while Lamar finished with five shots, one on goal, three corners and nine saves.
The Aggies will take on the winner of Notre Dame and IUPUI next Friday at Ellis Field in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The kickoff time is to be announced.