No. 9 Aggies finish off San Diego late, remain undefeated with 3-0 win
The No. 9 Texas A&M soccer team kept its undefeated record in tact Sunday night, defeating San Diego 3-0 behind goals from Ally Watt, Kendall Ritchie and Addie McCain.
Watt started the scoring off early for the Aggies after pushing the ball in between the center and left defenders and running on to it. Watt caught up to the ball just outside of the six-yard box and ripped a strike into the upper left side of the net in the sixth minute.
“I just got the ball on my feet and Emily Bates told me to turn and I turned around to the goal,” Watt said. “I saw the keeper cheating a little bit to the near post so I knew if I placed it on the far post, she might not be able to touch it.”
The Aggies were the aggressor in the first quarter of the game and it felt like a goal was on the horizon. However, the level of play dropped around the 25-minute mark as the maroon and white got a little bit too fancy.
“We started making some substitutions which usually strengthen us as we take the next steps and we started doing things that we didn't need to be doing,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “We kind of lost our way. We started doing kicks and flicks and all we had to do was play simple.”
The Aggies outshot San Diego 13-5 in the first half, but held a mere 1-0 lead at the intermission.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, the Aggies had a tough time getting the ball to their forwards’ feet to utilize their speed to get around the defenders. Instead, the Aggies tried to force the ball through the middle of the field, which proved fruitless.
“I don’t think we took more than two shots in the first 30 minutes of the period [second half] and then we started to settle down and we were able to get our shots again,” Guerrieri said. “In the second half, we didn’t pull the trigger enough.”
San Diego presented a threat throughout the match on the counter attack, attacking with numbers and with speedy forwards. The Aggie defense was tested in the 60th minute as a San Diego forward had a point blank opportunity from inside the six-yard box after a quick cross on the counter. Kendall Ritchie quickly tracked back and saved the shot off of the line to prevent the goal.
“I immediately had to cut towards the front post and I knew the girl was wide open on the back side, we just had a bit of a miscommunication,” Ritchie said. “I just tried to drop in on the back line and luckily the ball came right to me.”
The Aggies shifted gears in the last ten minutes and replicated the play that worked so well in the early minutes of the match.
The Aggies caught a break in the 84th minute as a San Diego defender intentionally blocked a cross from Kendall Ritchie with her hand on the left side of the box and the Aggies were awarded a penalty kick. Freshman midfielder Addie McCain struck the ball into the lower left corner of the net on the kick, augmenting the Aggie lead to 2-0.
Three minutes later, the Aggies were awarded a free kick about 35 yards from the goal. Kendall Ritchie struck the direct kick and the San Diego goalie didn’t move as the ball went rolled into the left side netting.
“We practice a lot of free kicks about hitting our spots. I hit my spot and the goalkeeper didn’t move and I was a little surprised that she didn’t but I’m glad she didn’t,” Ritchie said. “I knew the wind was going to carry it so I just tried to keep it low and on the back post.”
With the win, the maroon and white move to (4-0-0) ahead of another home slate of games next weekend. The Aggies will start the weekend with a match against Oklahoma with kickoff taking place at 8 p.m. on Friday night.
