Soccer: Aggies advance to Elite Eight after a 2-1 win over Notre Dame

If the first two rounds were child’s play, Sunday’s game looked like a heavyweight bout.

After outscoring opponents 12-2 in the first two matches of the NCAA’s, the Aggies had to dig deep, and fight, to keep their dream alive against a feisty Notre Dame squad that would not go away.

As she has done all postseason, Kelley Monogue stood up and took control of this game early. With a game long crosswind at her back, Kelley sized up a corner kick in the 6th minute and bent it in, right to left, just past the outstretched hands of Notre Dame’s Kaela Little. Kelley practices the corners constantly and it paid off today, “It was right on line over Annie’s head and she’s a tall girl, so she was able to distract everyone on the line. Kicking on that left side, the wind definitely helped push it in a bit.”

For the rest of the first half and much of the second, Notre Dame seized control over everything but the scoreboard. The Fighting Irish Head Coach, Theresa Romagnolo, really liked the way her team responded, “After they scored we got better and were able to come away with possession. I thought our midfield was the best I’ve ever seen it.”

That ability to control possession limited the Aggies to just two shots for a large portion of the second half. Meghan Streight touched on the pressure Notre Dame was putting on the Aggie defense, “They were fighters, and they fought for every ball and were really good through the air. It was hard to keep the game how we wanted it.”

Constant pressure led to an equalizing goal in the 71st minute. A corner kick was batted around in front of Jordan Day and eventually found a hole.

All tied up with the season on the line, the Aggies knew what they had to do. Kelley Monogue has been in that situation many times in her career, “At that point it was do or die, if we don’t win we aren’t playing anymore. We have a lot of seniors on the field who know what it’s like to be done early and we did not want that. It flipped a switch and we realized we need to put the pressure on.”

Ten minutes later, Shea Groom’s shot was badly cleared right to a waiting Monogue, who gave the Aggies the winning goal from 18 yards out. For a team that had trouble closing out games early on, this was a big moment and G. Guerrieri knows it, “To know that we can battle, and beat a three time national champion, gives us some currency in our back pack going forward for the next battle.”

Coach Guerrieri spoke more about the toughness of this team, “It’s hard to follow up such a dominating performance like we had Friday and do it two games in a row. That dominance came in the heart of these players and the fight they have. The belief they have in each other is phenomenal, so that even when Notre Dame tied it up late, this team was able to believe and come back.”

A&M’s next match will be their first Elite Eight at Ellis Field and will see Penn State come to town.

The Aggies and the Nittany Lions will square off Saturday at 7:00 PM.