Soccer: Groom's hat trick dispatches Minutewomen 3-1

Hats off to the performance from A&M forward Shea Groom on Friday night.

Behind a hat trick from Groom, the No. 20 Texas A&M soccer team picked up their fourth victory of the season 3-1 over the visiting University of Massachusetts Minutewomen in front of 1,678 fans at Ellis Field. With the victory, the Aggies move to 4-2-1 on the season and 2-1 all-time against the Minutewomen.

“I’m pleased that we won,” stated A&M head coach G Guerrieri. “It’s nice having Shea where she can find space and be around the goal to show how dangerous she can be. Having her and Kelley [Monogue] around that part of the field is pretty exciting for us.”

With just under 30 minutes remaining in the first half, Groom broke the scoreless tie with her second goal of the season, giving A&M an early 1-0 lead. Groom, who was playing in only her second game back from a face injury, was able to find a little space near the top of the box and booted a right-footed roller past the diving arms of Massachusetts goalie Danielle Kriscenski.

As if that wasn’t enough of a solid start to the match, Groom added another score less than a minute later when she came away with a ball directly in front of an open Minutewomen net.

In a scrum of five players, including Kriscenski, A&M forward Bianca Brinson was able to kick the ball loose where Groom was waiting to drive it into the wide-open net. Brinson was credited with the assist on both of Groom’s first two goals.

“Shea is such a special athlete,” stated Guerrieri. “She’s able to pounce on balls. She is just a really dangerous player and that’s because of her athletic ability, but also because of her hunger and technical ability.”

The Minutewomen would answer back in the 33rd minute of play with a goal off the foot of forward Brittany Moore when an A&M defensive lapse left Moore with a one-on-one opportunity against A&M keeper Jordan Day.

Day, who was a couple yards off the goal line, didn’t stand a chance as Moore used a nifty lob off the cross bar to record the goal, making the score 2-1 A&M.

“The goal they scored just found a way to make it in,” said Guerrieri. “We weren’t decisive enough on our clearance on the ball, but we can improve on those things.”

However, Groom would clear any threat of an equalizer in the 80th minute when she registered her third goal of the night on a left-footed roller to the right side of the net to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Aggies. The hat trick was the first of Groom’s career and the first for A&M since September 18th, 2011.

While the score was relatively close throughout the majority of the match, A&M clearly played the aggressor. Not only did the Aggies hold a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks, but they also put up a total of 31 shots to just seven by Massachusetts.

Although the Texas climate seemed to affect the Minutewomen, Guerrieri was impressed with their ability to adapt to the southern heat.

“We play faster than most teams, so for a team to come in from a different climate and adjust to our speed of play, it takes a little bit extra. I thought they did a good job with that and defended bravely.”

Now the focus shifts to Sunday’s match with the Cal Poly Mustangs. The Mustangs, who were defeated by Baylor on Friday, bring in one of the nation’s top offenses including the nation’s top scorer in Elise Krieghoff.

“Cal Poly plays very confident,” said Guerrieri of Sunday’s opponent. “Krieghoff is the real deal. She’s got good pace and is good with both feet. They rest of the team around her likes to stretch it out and looks a lot like us. They may come in limping a little bit [after playing Baylor on Friday], but we’ll see how that goes.”