Texas A&M
Texas
Aggies Drop Regular-Season Finale at No. 9 Texas
Oct 27, 2006 | Soccer
October 27, 2006
The 5th-ranked Texas A&M soccer team (13-4-1, 9-1-0) dropped a tough 1-0 decision to the 9th-ranked Texas Longhorns (15-3-1, 8-1-1) on Friday night in front of 4,133 at Mike Myers Stadium.
The Aggies, who had already wrapped up the 2006 Big 12 regular season championship before this game, saw their 18-game conference unbeaten streak snapped. The Aggies finish the ?'06 Big 12 portion of their season with a 9-1-0 record, and will hold the No. 1 seed in next week?™s Big 12 Championships in San Antonio.
A brisk 22-mile an hour northwest wind played a part in much of the game as both teams recorded more shots in the half where they had the wind at their back. In the first half, while playing into the wind, Aggie freshman goalkeeper Kristin Arnold recorded four saves while Texas keeper Diana Pfenninger made three to send the game to halftime tied 0-0.
The only goal of the match was scored in the 72nd minute as sophomore defender, Kasey Moore headed in a cross from Stephanie Logterman. The play was set up by a long Longhorn free kick which wasn?™t fully cleared by the Aggie defense. Logterman ran down the loose ball on the right flank and lobbed the cross into the Aggie penalty area which Moore redirected toward the back post. The ball barely trickled past the grasp of the A&M goalkeeper and just inside the post.
Following the goal, A&M stepped up their attack and had several golden opportunities to send the game into extra time. Melissa Garey found herself 10 yards from goal with the ball on her left foot, but her shot went right at Pfenninger. A couple minutes later, Paige Carmichael had a good look at goal from 18 yards, but her shot blazed inches over the target. And then with three minutes remaining in the match, All-American forward Ashlee Pistorius got on the end of an Elizabeth Jones cross, but her side footed shot was hit right at Pfenninger from just three yards out. Pfenninger was forced to make six saves in the second half as she earned the shutout win. It?™s just the second time the Aggies have been shutout this year.
?The Horns played real well tonight,? commented Aggie head coach G Guerrieri. ?They were very organized defensively and our quality just wasn?™t good enough tonight to break them down. It?™s always tough to lose, but we can use this result to refocus our team going into the postseason.?
The Aggies will play the Baylor Bears in the first round of the Big 12 Championships at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at the Blossom Soccer Complex.
