February 25, 2006
The defending Big 12 Champion Texas A&M soccer team opened its spring season with a pair of wins at the Aggie Soccer Stadium beating the TSC Challenge 1-0 in the first game of the evening, then backed up the performance with a solid 4-0 win over the USA?â„¢s South Region ?â„¢88 Olympic Development Program team.
Cydne Currie scored the game winning goal against the Challenge in the game?â„¢s 82nd minute. The Aggies were awarded a free kick 35 yards from the goal. Allison Martino struck the free kick into a crowd of players in the penalty area, where Currie out-dueled the Challenge defense to head home the winning goal. This was Currie's first game back after a knee surgery in the fall that caused her to miss the 2005 season. Currie scored another goal in the game but had it called back for offsides.
Texas A&M had outshot the Challenge 10-3 for the game, but saw the Challenge goalkeepers register nine saves before Currie could find the back of the net.
?Cydne played well,? commented A&M head coach G Guerrieri. ?There were a couple of people who could have knocked in the game-winner, but it was nice to see it come from one of our forwards. We saw some good things from a lot of our players tonight, and the results are great, but we?â„¢re using these games as opportunities to improve and develop our players.?
In the nightcap, Texas A&M opened the game maintaining possession of the ball for the majority of the time but only led 1-0 at halftime. The Aggies scored their first goal on a corner kick from Madison Klovstad to All-American forward Ashlee Pistorius three yards from the goal, where Pistorius headed home the game-winning goal.
?We had a lot of players turn in quality performances tonight. I?â„¢m real pleased that we were able to shut out two talented opponents, and I was very impressed with the way our team was able to attack and create trouble for those opponents,? said Guerrieri.
In the second half, the Aggies were able to wear-down the Region Teamers before tallying three goals in a six minute time span. Allison Martino scored in the 72nd minute when she bent a left footed corner kick into goal. The swerving shot beat the goalkeeper to put the Ags up 2-0. Four minutes later, midfielder Amy Berend took a shot from 30 yards outside of goal, which ricocheted off the crossbar. Two Aggies pounced on the rebound; Ashlee Pistorius headed the initial rebound across the face of the goal, where Laura Grace Robinson headed home the third A&M goal of the game. Robinson then finished off the night?â„¢s scoring; scoring her second goal two minutes later when an ODP player deflected another A&M shot which rebounded toward the Aggies?â„¢ sophomore midfielder, who stroked a full volley into the bottom far corner of the goal from 20 yards out.
The Aggies will continue their spring non-traditional season next weekend when they host the State ODP teams from North Texas and South Texas in a three-team round robin event. Texas A&M will play the North Texas ?â„¢88 ODP team at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday the 5th. North Texas and South Texas will play each other at 3:00 p.m., and then the Aggies will play South Texas at 5:00 p.m. All games will be played at the Aggie Soccer Stadium, and admission to the games is free.