In its final home game on March 4, the A&M Women’s Club Soccer team is looking to continue its undefeated season against the Incarnate Word Cardinals.
Engineering senior and head coach Devonn Mendoza said players have no plans to let off the gas for the Saturday match set for 1 p.m. on Field 10 at the Penberthy Soccer Complex. The Aggies finished a 3-0 shutout victory over the Texas State Bobcats in San Marcos on Feb. 25.
Mendoza said the maroon and white will continue with their successful “Tiki Taka” playstyle, which focuses on quickness and limited touches with the ball. Instead of evolving the team’s offensive scheme to fit their opponent’s playstyle, Mendoza said they force the opposing team to adapt to them.
“We don’t really ever go and look at a team,” Mendoza said. “Unless something is just completely not working, we’ve always had the team have to adapt to us.”
Interdisciplinary engineering senior and team captain Claire Rodgers said she had to pivot to a different role at center back for the team’s strategy compared to her previous playing experience.
“I’ve kind of played on both types of teams,” Rogers said. “I think what I’ve adapted to on this team especially is kind of being one of the starting points of that possession, of that passing.”
Kinesiology junior and team captain Maci Hubbard said the team’s roster size and overall skill are key to dominating opponents. The team has 34 total players, 21 on the main roster and 13 on the reserve, according to the team’s website.
“Our whole team is so talented,” Hubbard said. “Even when we’re subbing the intensity is still right where it was in the beginning. Everyone has such a hard-working mentality that even when people get subbed in, the play of game does not suffer. Nothing drops I think.”
Follow A&M’s Women’s Club Soccer @TamuWomensClubSoccer on Instagram or visit their website.
Bentley Durrett is a recreation, park and tourism sciences junior who contributed this article from JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.