Soccer: A&M falls to Pepperdine 3-1 in disappointing fashion

Disappointing may be the proper word for the performance the No. 19 Texas A&M soccer team put on the field during Sunday afternoon’s contest against the visiting Pepperdine Waves.

Led by a pair of goals from forward Lynn Williams, the Waves dropped the Aggies 3-1 in front of 1,683 fans at Ellis Field. With the loss, the Aggies now sit at a lackluster 2-2 on the year and need to improve if they want to live up to their preseason hype.

Prior to the year, A&M was picked unanimously to win the SEC West and was named the team to beat in the conference by the SEC coaches.

“Our effort has to be better,” said A&M head coach G Guerrieri. “If we expect to win anything this year, it has to start with our effort. Yes, it was hot and it was a tough weekend, but it’s just as tough for our opponent.

“I can’t remember the last time we gave up three goals on our home field, especially three goals in one half.”

After a scoreless first half that saw the Aggies outshoot the Waves 12-6, Williams broke the tie with her first goal in the 47th minute to make it 1-0 Pepperdine.

Less than two minutes later, Williams added another to give the Waves the 2-0 advantage early in the second half. On both plays, Williams was able to beat the A&M backline to earn a one-on-one opportunity with goalie Jordan Day of which she took full advantage.

“Hats off to Pepperdine, especially Williams up front,” said Guerrieri. “She was the kid we knew we had to stop and we couldn’t stop her. That’s on me for predicting the future and not being able to adjust to make it not happen. I’ll take that on me.”

“We went with a bigger lineup on the backline to try to deal with Williams, and it didn’t work out for us.”

A&M drew to within one goal in the 55th minute when junior midfielder Kelley Monogue found the back of the net from the top of the Pepperdine box. Monogue, who celebrated her 21st birthday on Sunday, now leads the Aggies in scoring with two goals on the season, both of which came this weekend.

“Kelley scored two great goals this weekend,” stated Guerrieri. “I thought she had a good weekend all the way around. We have to have more performances like that.”

However, the Waves were able to smash any hope of a late-game A&M comeback by adding a third goal, this time off the foot of Kristen Rodriguez, in the 71st minute.  Williams once again was in on the play, this time picking up the assist as Pepperdine once again got the better of the A&M defense.

“Our backline needs to sort out some basic issues across the board,” concluded Guerrieri. “We have two more tough teams coming in next weekend with San Diego (Friday) and Baylor (Sunday).”

If A&M wants to win the rekindled Battle of the Brazos next Sunday night, those issues Guerrieri alluded to need to be fixed – and fast. Baylor has twice registered 5-0 victories this season and are averaging over three goals per game in 2013.