Texas A&M Soccer opened Southeastern Conference play with one thing in mind Sunday night: reclaiming their SEC title.
No.11 Texas A&M walked away with a 3-0 victory over the LSU Tigers on Sunday, clenching its fourth consecutive shutout at Ellis Field and the 400th win in Aggie soccer history. With the victory, Texas A&M improved to 5-2-0 on the season.
The Tigers fought hard, but the Aggies' skill and speed was unmatched.
"We've gotten better and better every game," Coach G. Guerrieri said.
"LSU is a hard team to play in that the game can get really stretched," Guerrieri added. "Our defenders did a good job of squeezing those spaces and making it to
where we can win the ball back quickly and then get ourselves going on
the attack."
And Texas A&M certainly did not hold back on their attack Sunday night.
Early in the game, the Aggies were already putting pressure on the LSU goal.
Just before the third minute of the game, Texas A&M found their first opportunity to score. Grace Wright lined up to take a free kick for Texas A&M forty yards from the Tigers' goal. The ball soared to the far post at the perfect height for freshman Grace Piper to get a head on it. From 10 yards out, Piper sent it into the back of the net. The goal was her first of the season.
Brian Okosun
Haley Pounds dodges a defender and drives down the field to take a shot.
"It was surreal. I expected it to go in, and I was really excited when it
did. I just didn't know what to do so I just jumped up and down a lot. I
was really excited," Piper said.
"(Piper's) been fantastic," Guerrieri said. "I'm sure she's made a lot of people forget that
an Olympian is in the line-up. She's been absolutely great."
But Piper was not the only Aggie looking for a goal tonight.
In the second minute of the second half, Haley Pounds was able to steal the ball from an LSU defender in the far left corner of the field.
Pounds was looking for an opening, and Mikaela Harvey made a move toward the goal to connect with her pass.
"I could see that there were a lot of defenders coming at her and she
didn't really have that much help, so I just ran up hoping that she would
find me and she did," Harvey said. "I saw some space and was hoping for the best."
In one swift movement, Harvey ripped a shot into the back of the net from 18 yards away. It was her first goal of the season.
While it seemed Texas A&M had sealed the victory against LSU, the Aggies were still hungry for more.
In the 70th minute of the game, Texas A&M made a substitution, placing Grace Cory on the field. Seconds later, on her first touch of the game, Cory found freshman Jordan Hill in front of the Tigers' goal. Hill took a one-touch shot from 12 yards out, giving the Aggies their third goal of the night.
Hill's first goal of the season was more than enough to help the Texas A&M wrap-up the win.
"(The freshmen) work really hard, and they are really good players. It's awesome to see that their hard work is paying off for them," Harvey said.
With true freshmen players stepping up to the plate and the team pulling off its fourth consecutive shutout, Texas A&M is feeling confident as it looks forward to its game against Georgia.
"Just the other day we were talking about how we want to come out of the SEC undefeated, so this is a good way to start off," Harvey added.
The Aggies will have their second SEC game against Georgia on Friday at Ellis Field at 6 p.m.
