When everything went wrong for the Aggies, it was junior midfielder Sydney Becerra who stepped up to rescue a point for Texas A&M soccer against LSU on Friday night. With the team down 2-1, the Aggies needed one more moment of magic to draw level.
In the 81st minute, the Aggies’ most productive goal-scorer lined up a free kick from around 25 yards out. The Flower Mound product curled the ball into the top left corner as the Ellis Field crowd erupted in approval.
“They bring out our mannequins, stick them in the ground and they spend a good 45 minutes after most practices doing [freekicks],” coach Phil Stephenson said. “We’ve seen her do it all this season. That’s kind of special, and she’s a special player.”
Becerra’s heroics saved an A&M team that weathered a spell of pure chaos in the second half.
The confetti cannons first fired in the 54th minute when senior forward MaKhiya McDonald buried a shot into the bottom left corner. The scoring possession for the Aggies started when Becerra found sophomore M Grace Ivey in the middle of the pitch, who slipped McDonald a through ball to finish the play and put the Aggies up 1-0 early.
Just minutes later in the 55th, the Tigers bit back. LSU earned a corner that caused a pinball situation in front of the A&M goal. LSU’s claims for a handball led to referee Billy Hale checking the monitor to confirm the decision and give a penalty. Junior defender Sydney Cheesman sent A&M freshman goalkeeper Sydney Fuller the wrong way to draw the Tigers level, 1-1.
LSU seized momentum and took a stranglehold on the match via a sophomore M Ava Galligan goal. The low shot flew past Fuller and silenced the Ellis Field crowd to the elation of the LSU bench as it went up 2-1 in the 63rd.
However, just seconds later, the game went from bad to worse for the Maroon and White. A&M coach G Guerrieri remained incredulous on the touchline that the referee decided against A&M’s handball claim and earned his second yellow in a minute to be sent off in the 64th. Guerrieri then slowly trudged across the field into the locker room for the remainder of the match.
“[The Aggies] didn’t get down, and I was really happy with them for that,” Stephenson said. “I thought they rose to win rather than [getting] down on themselves.”
The Aggies continued to generate chances, finishing the game with 24 shots and eight on goal. In the 75th minute, graduate M/F Kate Colvin slithered her way down the left flank and launched a shot down the middle that sophomore goalkeeper Audur Scheving narrowly tipped over the bar.
Despite an eventful handful of second-half minutes that swung the game, the first 45 were largely mundane and in control for A&M. The first clear-cut opportunity of the match was courtesy of senior M/D Mia Pante. In the 15th minute, the Aggies strung together several passes in the attacking third to work the ball out to Pante on the left flank, who fired a low shot from the edge of the penalty box right at Scheving. The goalkeeper made a firm save before the ball was cleared out of a congested penalty area.
In the 24th minute, A&M’s most productive attacker, Becerra, found a pocket of space at the top of the penalty box and unfurled a shot with her right foot that barely whizzed past the bottom right corner.
While the Maroon and White failed to create any other clear goal-scoring opportunities, they kept Scheving honest, racking up five shots on target in the first half. Pante continued to have success down the left touchline, routinely gliding past junior D Jocelyn Ollivierre. Pante tallied another shot on goal in the 32nd minute.
Just before halftime in the 40th minute, sophomore F Taylor Jernigan was released down the right side via an over-the-top long ball. Jernigan carried the ball into the penalty box and forced a jumping save from Scheving that went out for a corner kick.
A&M now faces a challenging two matches against No. 4 Arkansas and No. 3 Mississippi State to make a final push for the SEC Tournament.
“The next two games we have to win,” Becerra said. “We really do. We’re kind of on the fence of getting into the tournament, so this week of training is going to be really important just to stay focused.”
