While Wilkinson came up huge for A&M today with a hat trick through great individual effort, it's a season saving save by Caldwell that keeps our hopes alive for an NCAA tournament bid. Tennessee should have gone up 4-2 in the second half when a ball bounced 4 yards from goal onto a Vols foot and a hard low shot was saved on a diving, fully stretched Caldwell arm to push it wide. That kept it 3-2 and set up the incredible 2 minute Wilkinson show to turn the match around and win it for the Aggies. It was an inspiring effort down the stretch when it looked like A&M's season was basically over.
The coaches again waited until 15 minutes left or so to insert the lineup we all agree is the best attacking formation, this time with the addition of Wilkinson. I'm not sure why we can't start this lineup? It works and could be a major difference maker if we make it to the postseason.
The Vols back line was one of the worst we've faced this season for sure, but we took advantage of it. Tennessee, outside of Fusco, doesn't look like a very good team and it's amazing they have a Top 30 RPI, which obviously helped us lot by winning on the road and now moving up to #41. That's close to NCAA lock status (usually Top 35 has you in the tourney for sure), so the game at LSU on Thursday is crucial to at least get a tie and not lose momentum going into the SEC tourney. I think the Ags secured no worse than the No.8 seed there, so if we can win a game or two that should ensure our NCAA trip.
It's amazing how slim a margin there is between being in or out of the NCAA tourney when you are on the bubble and the difference between a win or loss is so huge. Had Wilkinson not come up with those late goals, it's not pleasant to think what the discussion would be around here right now. The bottom line is that we won a game we should have won based on the run of the play and now we can look forward to potentially ending LSU's season on Thursday.
The coaches again waited until 15 minutes left or so to insert the lineup we all agree is the best attacking formation, this time with the addition of Wilkinson. I'm not sure why we can't start this lineup? It works and could be a major difference maker if we make it to the postseason.
The Vols back line was one of the worst we've faced this season for sure, but we took advantage of it. Tennessee, outside of Fusco, doesn't look like a very good team and it's amazing they have a Top 30 RPI, which obviously helped us lot by winning on the road and now moving up to #41. That's close to NCAA lock status (usually Top 35 has you in the tourney for sure), so the game at LSU on Thursday is crucial to at least get a tie and not lose momentum going into the SEC tourney. I think the Ags secured no worse than the No.8 seed there, so if we can win a game or two that should ensure our NCAA trip.
It's amazing how slim a margin there is between being in or out of the NCAA tourney when you are on the bubble and the difference between a win or loss is so huge. Had Wilkinson not come up with those late goals, it's not pleasant to think what the discussion would be around here right now. The bottom line is that we won a game we should have won based on the run of the play and now we can look forward to potentially ending LSU's season on Thursday.
