Texas A&M
Missouri
Aggies Advance to Friday's Semifinal
Nov 02, 2005 | Soccer
November 02, 2005
The 10th-ranked Aggie soccer team (14-3-2, 7-2-1 Big 12) beat the Missouri Tigers (9-8-3, 3-5-2 Big 12) 3-1, Wednesday at the Blossom Soccer Stadium in front of 346 fans. The victory advances the Aggies to Friday?™s semifinal match of the 2005 Big 12 Championship tournament.
?We knew this was going to be a challenging game,? commented A&M head coach G Guerrieri. ?Mizzou is a difficult team to have to play in a tournament. Coach Blitz is a former teammate of mine and the Tigers play just like Brian did, hard every second of the game and always looking for opportunities and never giving up. To win this game was a big accomplishment for us. Now we look towards another challenging game on Friday.?
In the beginning of the match, the two teams did a good job of trading possession of the ball, playing most of the game in the midfield. However as the match wore on, A&M began to control the tempo of the game, putting Missouri into a defensive playing mode.
The only goal of the first half came off a pass from Amy Berend into Ashlee Pistorius from about 18 yards out with 21:47 on the clock. Pistorius dribbled through the Tiger defense before drawing Mizzou goalkeeper, Laura Buehrig, out from the goal and sending the shot into the back of the net. The goal was Pistorius?™ 16th of the season, giving her the league lead.
As time expired to end the first period of play, the Aggies had outshot the Tigers 11-6, with six of the shots being on frame to Mizzou?™s one. Buehrig had to make five saves to Aggie goalkeeper, Kati Jo Spisak?™s one.
To start the second period, Texas A&M once again controlled the tempo of the game, managing to fire another 10 shots, causing the Mizzou goalkeeper to have to make an additional four saves.
The game-winner came with 21:09 left in regulation as Carrie Berend came off the bench to immediately give the Aggies their second goal of the game, sending a long shot from near 22 yards out and netting the ball in the middle of the left side of the goal. The goal marked Berend?™s second of the season and 10th of her Aggie career and gave A&M a 2-0 lead.
However, with just under five minutes left in the second period, Tiger forward, Jennifer Nobis sent a shot to the right side, past Spisak off a double assist from the right sideline from Erica Pusch and Amber Swinehart.
With 33 seconds left in the game the Aggies?™ offense struck again, Madison Klovstad sent a long pass to Kat Krambeer who was a lone Aggie in the Mizzou backfield and beat the Tiger defense and the goalkeeper to score the Aggies?™ final goal of the game and extending the lead to 3-1.
The game became more and more physical as time ticked away. Three yellow cards were issued, two on A&M (Klovstad, Berend, C.) and one on Missouri (Redmond). There was a total of 22 fouls between the two teams.
Paige Carmichael was named State Farm Player of the Game for her exceptional work in the midfield, defending the Missouri attack while helping to establish A&M?™s.
In Friday?™s semifinal, the Aggies will face the winner of the Kansas and Nebraska match set to start at 1:30 p.m. today. The semifinal game will be televised live on FOX Sports Net at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Check local listings for viewing in your area.
Tickets for the tournament are $5 per day or $10 for a three-day pass and can be purchased at the stadium or through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com).
Those unable to attend the Aggie matches will be able to follow the action through live audio and statistics here on aggieathletics.com.
