Aggie soccer falls to No. 10 BYU on the road, 2-0
The No. 12 Texas A&M Soccer team suffered its first defeat of the season, 2-0, on Thursday against the 10th-ranked BYU Cougars on the road.
The game marked the second meeting for the two squads, with the Aggies earning a win at home in a thrilling 2-0 victory last season against the Cougars.
Coming off a scoreless draw against Brown on Sunday, the Aggies (4-1-2) were looking to stay undefeated through their first eight games. BYU headed into the match hot, coming off road wins against SEC opponents Alabama and Mississippi State and strong win over in-state rival Utah.
In the 11th minute, BYU forward Cameron Tucker took a slanting shot from just outside the six-yard box. Aggie keeper Shantel Hutton, who this week earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season, made a phenomenal save to keep the game scoreless early.
In the 22nd minute, midfielder Jimena Lopez booted one up, looking for a headered assist in, but was thwarted by Cougars goaltender Sabrina Davis.
The Aggies and Cougars continued to battle aggressively, keeping the game scoreless early. In the 34th minute, BYU broke the ice. An assist from Josie Guinn set up a shot for BYU forward Elise Flake. Flake’s shot went wild, bouncing off the heel of the Cougars’ Makaylie Moore and sliding in behind Shantel Hutton to put BYU up by one.
The score by BYU snapped an impressive streak of scoreless minutes by the Aggies, who had shut out their opponents in 563 minutes of play since winning their opener 3-2.
In the 37th minute of the match, Flake slid one in the bottom-left edge of the frame to put BYU ahead 2-0 heading into halftime. Flake, who secured a brace on the day, is one of three players in the match selected for the Hermann Trophy watch list, joining fellow Cougar Mikayla Colohan and Aggie standout forward Ally Watt.
Following halftime, the Aggie’s offense had a shot at a score when Ally Watt had a breakaway in the 52nd minute, but the shot edged out right by inches.
The Aggies continued to battle aggressively against a relentless BYU offensive front. Senior Aggie defender Briana Alston and sophomore Karlina Sample showed incredible resilience throughout the game, continuing to push forward and make difficult stops on defense.
While his squad fell short in a difficult match, A&M head coach G Guerrieri spoke highly of his team’s defensive efforts on the night against a tough opponent in BYU.
“As far as our play, I was pleased with the defensive effort of our backs. I thought Karlina (Sample) was awesome keeping us in the game. The same with Breezy (Briana Alston). They both had terrific nights,” said Guerrieri.
“Our goalkeeper had a great game. Shantel (Hutton) played well back there. There wasn’t much she could do about the first goal, which was essentially an own goal, and the second goal was set up by an inability to clear a ball.”
“You have to give BYU credit. This is a neat environment that they have here. It’s a great home-field advantage. We didn’t step up to the challenge tonight. We have to look at this and see what we can learn from what they did to us.”
The Aggies will be back in action when they face off with UNLV on Sunday at home at Ellis Field.