Soccer: A&M downs Cal Poly 4-0 to end non-conference play

It looks like it will be a pretty bad week for Mustangs around the country.

On Sunday, not only was the Texas A&M football team named a 28-point favorite over the Southern Methodist Mustangs, but the Texas A&M soccer team handed the Cal Poly Mustangs just their second loss of the season.

Behind four second half goals, the No. 20 Aggies improved their record to 5-2-1 with a 4-0 victory over the visitors from California in their final tune-up before conference play.

“I thought we had a really good weekend,” said A&M head coach G Guerrieri. “I thought our shot selection was better tonight this evening than it has been in the other games. We talked about that this week. We had a lot of players who were injured or sick so I was concerned about that, but I loved our fitness tonight.”

After a first period that saw the Aggies and Mustangs battle to a scoreless tie, A&M broke through in the 49th minute when freshman forward Liz Keester found the back of the net.

On the play, an A&M corner kick was initially cleared, but junior forward Bianca Brinson was able to send the ball back into the box where Keester was waiting to put it past the diving Cal Poly goalie. The goal was Keester’s third of the season.

Just minutes later, A&M would add another goal, this time off the foot of Kelley Monogue after a free kick from midfielder Meghan Streight. Streight put the ball in play from just outside the top of the box, and when the Mustangs’ keeper came out for the save, Monogue was in position to clean up the bobbled attempt and put it through to give A&M the 2-0 advantage.

“I think it’s a little bit of [our players being more familiar with each other and finishing opportunities],” stated Guerrieri in regards to the recent offensive barrage from his team.
“There was some real quality movements out there tonight by groups of players which is always nice to see.”

The A&M offensive attack continued throughout the second half, registering 21 total second half shots and an additional two goals. Junior Shea Groom recorded her fifth goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 57th minute, while Monogue added her second of the game – and sixth of the year – in the 69th minute.

While scoring four goals was impressive, it could be argued that slowing down the Cal Poly attack and holding the nation’s leading scorer, Mustangs’ forward Elise Kreighoff, scoreless was an even more impressive feat.

Coming into the match, Cal Poly averaged nearly 18 shots a game but were held to just seven on Sunday. Additionally, Krieghoff was held to just two shots, neither of which posed any real threat to the Aggies.

“Give all the credit to Meghan (Streight) and Rachel (Lenz),” said Guerrieri. “They sorted it out and figured out what they wanted to do [against Krieghoff] and were able to adjust.”

With non-conference play officially behind them, A&M now shifts their attention to the SEC, and more specifically, the Tennessee Volunteers (5-2-1) who they meet up with next Friday in Knoxville.

Tennessee holds a 2-0 advantage against the Aggies all-time, including a 1-0 victory in College Station last year, but Guerrieri believes his team is ready for the grind of the conference schedule.

“We are where we are,” concluded Guerrieri. “We would like to be undefeated and untied, but we think we’ve learned some hard lessons. Those are the lessons you want to learn before you get into conference play.

“Tennessee is a tough place to start. It’ll be a game where we have to go in and play smart if we want to come away with a result to open the conference season.”