Texas A&M continues hot streak with 2-1 win over New Mexico State
The redemption tour continues.
Threatened for the first time this season, Texas A&M soccer prevailed over New Mexico State with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in front of 6,086 fans at Ellis Field on Saturday night. Though the team’s three-game shutout streak came to an abrupt end, the Maroon & White are still outscoring opponents 16-1 and close the first of three homestands in the 2022 campaign with a perfect home record (3-0) intact.
“We’re creating opportunities, that’s one of the biggest things,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “Our defense starts with our forwards and how we pressure and how to take that next step to put the other team in under as much pressure as we can.
“I was really pleased with a lot of that, but we didn’t really play to our potential. If we’re going to win, we have to play closer to our potential than we did tonight.”
Sophomore defender Macy Matula’s header broke the seal at the 34-minute mark on a high lob in heavy traffic from Georgia Leb. The score marked Matula’s first career goal and the squad’s only conversion of the first half despite outshooting NMSU 13-3.
A&M’s restored attack continued to thrive early on with unrelenting speed and mobility that quickly established a firm grip on ball control — though, they failed to convert on multiple early attempts. Overall, the team outshot the visiting Aggies 21-7 with NMSU goalie Makenna Gottschalk getting a hand on five saves.
“Our finishing was just terrible. There is no other way to put it,” Guerrieri lamented. “We were really toothless in attack. I talked to the players and told them we’re not going to get 19 shots in a lot of our games. We might get three shots but we have to stick two of them.”
In the 58th minute, a momentary lapse in A&M’s backline allowed NMSU’s Bianca Chacon to break away and slant a lowball into the back of the net to tie the game in what was thought to be an uncalled offside on New Mexico.
Texas A&M was then forced to navigate through an unfamiliar situation as they frantically looked to avoid their second tie of the season. Luckily, Kate Colvin slotted a pass from the end line to sophomore forward MaKhiya McDonald where she crossed and drove in the game-winning goal in the 69th minute.
“Things don’t always go our way. It’s okay, and it happens sometimes,” McDonald said. “Refs aren’t always going to make perfect calls. Coming in and making sure I lifted my team up no matter what the refs were saying or how the game was going, just keeping that same intensity.”
Coming off their third contest in one week, Texas A&M begins a two-match Big Ten road trip on Thursday evening at Illinois. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.
“We’re going to go to Big Ten country next week and Illinois is going to have some really strong physical players that can play,” Guerrieri said. “Same thing with Ohio State. So we’re going have to clean up some stuff up, get our heads straight and be ready to go on the road.”
