The No. 12 Texas A&M women’s soccer team (1-1) split a pair of games on its opening weekend as it defeated the UT-San Antonio Roadrunners 1-0 Sunday night after falling to the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils 1-0 Friday evening.
Sunday night, the Aggies took a scoreless tie into the second half of play, predominately controlling the ball throughout the first 45 minutes but failing to find the back of the net.
During the first half, A&M got off 11 shots, three on goal, before the Roadrunners were able to get off a shot of their own. Despite multiple chances, A&M was unable to convert its opportunities into goals and ended the half with 13 shots, three on goal, while UTSA got off only two shots, none on goal.
The second half started off similar to the first, as the Aggies controlled the ball in UTSA’s territory but were unable to score. With 11:33 left in the match, though, junior forward Shea Groom broke the tie, taking a downfield pass from freshman defenseman Grace Wright – who was credited with the assist – and found the back of the net for Texas A&M’s first goal of the season.
“[Shea] had a great goal,” head coach G Guerrieri said. “Great debut for [Wright]. She’s a soccer player. She’s very good at using her body and she setup that goal for us. I’m pleased with her performance.”
Five minutes later, though, the match became heated when multiple failed attempts to score by the Aggies in front of the Roadrunner’s goal resulted in pushing and shoving. The referees separated the team and no cards were issued.
“Some of our players lost their cool,” Guerrieri said. “We’re dealing with teenagers and 20 year olds. We have got to learn to work through that when teams do that to us.”
Jordan Day picked up her first shutout of the season for the Aggies but was helped out by her defense. Day needed only one save to secure the victory for Texas A&M.
During Friday night’s season opener, the Aggies took a scoreless game into the second half until the Blue Devils broke the tie with 38:16 on the clock with a goal by Kim DeCesare, with the assist coming from Toni Payne. The lone goal would be the deciding factor against the Aggies in the shutout, despite junior goalkeeper Jordan Day tallying five saves on the evening.
“There are definitely some positive things that we can learn from this game and some things we can learn from,” senior defender Rachel Lenz said. “We’re way ahead of where we were last year.”
According to Guerrieri, the Aggies’ opening day loss allowed for invaluable experience against a Top 10 squad, noting A&M was able to see a veteran team “find a way to win” rather than the Aggies’ younger squad falling apart late.
“It’s a learning experience based on how we’re going to play,” Guerrieri said. “This team we played tonight was a Final Four-caliber team. If you don’t stay on the edge of your game and keep it moving, they can punish you for it. You can’t take anything away from them. It wasn’t like we lost this game. They found a way to win it. We have to learn from it and move on.”