Soccer opens home slate with 3-0 victory over Northwestern State

It was a tale of two halves in Aggie soccer’s home opener.

Thankfully for Texas A&M, both periods were successful, albeit in different ways.

After a 4-2 victory over Rice on Friday, the Aggies came to Ellis Field looking to build on their early season momentum. Just over four minutes into their match up with Northwestern State, A&M went to work.

After working her way into open space in front of the goal, Haley Pounds received a perfect touch pass from Ashlynn Harryman. After some slick footwork, Pounds finished into the left side of the goal to give A&M a 1-0 lead.

While Pounds' goal proved to be enough, as the Aggies pitched a shutout defensively, the team stayed aggressive throughout the first half.

A&M registered 12 shots in the first 45 minutes of play, compared to just two from their opponents. That type of play was pleasing to the Aggies head coach G. Guerrieri.

“I thought we got off to a great start moving the ball.” Said Guerrieri, “Then, it was almost like once the goals came, we got bored.”

That great start allowed A&M to tack on two more goals in the early goings of Sunday night’s game. First, Mikaela Harvey got possession in the middle of the field and powered one into the left side of the goal from nearly 25 yards out.

The score gave A&M a 2-0 advantage and also marked Harvey’s first career goal for the Aggies. She was elated about it after the game.

“It was awesome. I hadn't scored in forever, so I was honestly wondering if it was ever going to happen,” As relieved as Harvey was about the goal, she was pleased with the other facets of her game as well. “Our forwards were making great runs, so it’s just my job to almost quarterback them and find opportunities for them to score.”

That selflessness paid off for A&M as they scored their final goal 20 minutes later on a beautiful heads up play from Kate Hajdu and Janae Cousineau.

With a quick pass inside from Hajdu, Cousineau threaded the needle from 15 yards out to push the score to 3-0. In the second half, the Aggies played smart defense to secure their second win of the season. For a young team, these early experiences are invaluable. Nobody knows that better than Guerrieri.

“It was a big crowd and some of our freshman got to experience a shutout win.”

A win is always positive, but Guerrieri knows the team has to keep progressing. “We’ve got to continue working on things like finishing our chances, but we played well. Our veteran sophomores stepped up and scored, which is always good. We’ll take goals from anybody who wants to give them to us.”

A&M’s next opportunity to improve comes Friday evening as they welcome UC-Irvine to Ellis Field.