COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies scored two goals in the first three minutes and then battled Auburn tooth and nail for the next 87 minutes to register a 4-2 win over the Tigers at Ellis Field on Thursday.
The Aggies drew first blood 72 seconds into the contest with Ally Watt’s 10th goal of the season and Jimena Lopez scored just 74 seconds later to give A&M a 2-0 lead 2:26 into the contest.
Texas A&M improved to 12-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the SEC. Auburn dropped to 9-3-1 overall and 1-3-1 in league play.
Offensively, Lopez led the way with two goals and one assist. Addie McCain added one goal and one assist and Watt accounted for a goal. Grace Piper and Tera Ziemer each contributed assists on the evening.
Cosette Morché made six saves as the Aggies’ starting goalkeeper to pick up her 30th win in Aggieland. Texas A&M’s backline baited Auburn into an offside call on six occasions.
Auburn owned the advantages in shots (17-13) and corner kicks (5-1), but Texas A&M put 10 shots on frame.
The victory marked Texas A&M’s 10th consecutive home victory. The four goals equaled a season high. The Maroon & White also scored four goals against Hawai’i and Santa Clara.
GOAL SUMMARY
2’ – Lopez played a ball into Piper nearing the left corner of the penalty box. Piper sent a diagonal ball into Watt who met the ball in the air with her right ball and flicked it over the keepers head for her 10th goal of the season. A&M 1, AUB 0.
3’ – McCain sent a ball along the right touchline to Ziemer 10 yards off the end line. Ziemer sent a cross in from the right side, threading the needle between a charging Asdis Halldorsdottir and Tigers’ defender to find Lopez in the six-yard box. A&M 2, AUB 0.
16’ - From Alyssa Malonson fed a ball to Treva Aycock going into the penalty box on the left inside channel. Aycock shot from the left corner of the 6-yard box to beat the keeper. A&M 2, AUB 1.
39’ – Kendall Ritchie sent a free kick in from midfield. An Auburn defender tried to clear the ball out with a header, but it rolled to the feet of a charging McCain who sent a rocket from the right side of the penalty arc into the left side netting. A&M 3, AUB 1.
64’ – Auburn beat the offside trap to cut the lead back to one. Alyssa sent a throw-in to Sarah Houchin in the defensive end. Houchin sent a long ball to Dani Solaru who raced between two Aggie defenders and tracked down the ball heading into the penalty box for a one-on-one with the keeper. A&M 3, AUB 2.
70’ – The Aggies were awarded a penalty kick when Jordan Hill’s screamer off a corner kick was deemed to be stopped on the goal line with a handball. Lopez put the shot home despite a correct guess by the keeper. A&M 4, AUB 2.
UP NEXT
The Aggies returns to action Sunday with a road match against the Kentucky Wildcats. Game time in Lexington is slated for 1 p.m.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On tonight’s performance...
“Like we said prior to the game, Auburn is a team that really puts the ball down and moves it and puts it in difficult places to defend. The two goals are both really good learning experiences for our backline. Those are things we will be able to clean up really easily. Auburn did a good job of finishing them off, but I was really pleased with our finishing.”
On if team relaxed too much after scoring two goals within three minutes…
“One of the things that we respect Auburn the most for is that they are a hard-working team. For the rest of that first half, they out-worked us. I thought that we came out in the second half and we put our stamp on the game. I think that Emily Bates had a really good second half. We did a much better job of keeping them [Auburn] contained in the midfield.”
Sophomore midfielder Jimena Lopez
On her first goal…
“It was the game plan. All midfielders were supposed to push up and Tera (Ziemer) had a great cross. The keeper and the defender had some confusion, then the ball went through and I was at the right place at the right time.”
On her penalty kick…
“I was just very confident where I wanted to kick it, so it didn’t matter how long they took and where the keeper goes. If it is well taken it will go in.”