In a battle of ranked opponents, No.4 Texas A&M edged out No. 18 Kansas 3-0 on Sunday at Ellis Field. This improves the Aggies to 10-0 — their best start in school history.
This is the Aggies 25th consecutive win, leaving them one shy of the SEC consecutive wins record. With the 3-0 performance, the Aggies provided their 11th consecutive multiple goal performance, tying their school record.
This is senior goalkeeper Cosette Morche’s 22nd Division I shutout and 16th shutout while in Aggieland. Morche leads the SEC with eight shutouts. Eight in the first ten games is the best defensive span in school history.
A&M head coach G. Guerrieri said this was a defensive performance to for the Aggies to hang their hat on, as Kansas posed a considerable challenge.
“That’s a win that we can really be proud of because Kansas is a really good team,”Guerrieri told 12thman.com. “It was just a matter of execution on our side and great defending on our side. I told Cosette and our backs that that’s a shutout they can really be proud of.”
In the 38th minute, redshirt freshman Abby Grace Cooper scored the first goal of her Aggie career and first of the game on an assist from sophomore Jordan Hill.
Sophomore Addie McCain took advantage of a light touch assist from junior Ally Watt for the game-sealing second goal in the 65th minute.
Watt kept her position as the Aggies’ leading scorer, turning a rebound from a missed shot into another goal.
“I was really hoping [Ásdís Halldórsdóttir’s] shot was going in, because that was a really good strike,” Watt told 12thman.com. “It was my job to be around the goal to put the ball back in. I put my foot on it and I think the defender helped it in. I just put it on frame and hoped it went in.”
Watt said the great start comes from the Aggies’ effort in the off-season and the goals they set for this season.
“It just shows that we have been working really hard,” Watt told 12thman.com. “All the hard work we had in the spring and summer has been paying off. It just shows that we are staying focused and we are not letting anything stop us from making history this season. We are looking for championships, so hopefully we are going to get those.”
The Aggies get back into conference play as they take on Arkansas Sept. 20. The game is at Razorback field and kicks off at 7 p.m. This is the first road game for the Aggies since they played in Waipahu, Hawai’i, on Aug. 19.