A&M thumps Texas Southern, 10-0, to put bow on non-conference slate
Texas A&M soccer’s last non-conference game of the season saw the Aggies roll for a 10-0 win over the Texas Southern Tigers on Sunday night at Ellis Field in College Station.
Opening the scoring with her first goal of the season in the fourth minute, Andersen Williams toe-poked the ball past Tigers’ goalkeeper Jaidyn Christophe into the bottom-right corner of the goal.
In the ninth minute, Georgia Leb served in a corner kick, and Quinn Cornog headed it around the left post to double the lead, 2-0, for the Maroon & White.
“We’ve been talking about scoring off of corners for so long, and I mean she did, and she did it really well,” Taylor Jernigan said. “It was an epic moment in the game.”
The Aggies’ goalkeeper Grace McClellan took a free kick well into Tigers’ territory. She nearly scored on the kick, but the shot sailed just wide of the right post.
“She can hit a dead ball just as well as [Kenna Caldwell] can,” head coach G Guerrieri said.
In the 18th minute, Jazmine Wilkinson made a run up the left flank and crossed the ball into the box where a Texas Southern defender attempted to clear it, but ended up with an own goal that made it 3-0.
Maile Hayes picked up her first assist of the campaign in the 33rd minute thanks to Mia Pante scoring her first goal of the season. After finishing her shot, Pante leaped over Christophe and watched the ball hit the back of the net.
Hayes was later fouled by the Tigers’ keeper, and Carissa Boeckmann scored on the ensuing penalty kick, allowing A&M to score its fifth goal of the night in the 47th minute.
“I thought Carissa’s PK was amazing, like the run-up and everything,” Jernigan said. “It was just so smooth and so nice. It was crazy to see in person.”
Facing TSU’s newly subbed-in keeper, Alyssa Hart, Hayes got in alone against Hart and scored off assists from Boeckmann and Sydney Becerra in the 69th minute.
In her second career appearance, Eloise Descheneaux assisted Wilkinson in the 75th minute, who ripped a shot from far out and scored.
Four minutes later, Jernigan followed up on an initial shot by Leb in the 79th minute. Leb’s free-kick was deflected by the keeper to Jernigan who capitalized to make it 9-0.
Eventually making it back-to-back goals, Jernigan scored on a header off an initial shot by Wilkinson in the 84th minute.
Wilkinson made it 10-0 to close out the barrage of scoring in the 86th minute after she leaped above the Tigers’ backline and scored on a header off a corner kick by Leb in the 86th minute.
“We’ve been talking about that a lot in training and in film, so just to get one in was really fun,” Wilkinson said.
With non-conference action now by the wayside, Texas A&M resumes SEC action at Mississippi State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
“The intensity in Starkville is going to be significantly different than this game,” Guerrieri said. “Again, Mississippi State is a team that is playing great.”