Texas A&M
Oklahoma State
Aggies Remain Unbeaten in Big 12 with 3-1 Win over No. 17 OSU
Sep 27, 2006 | Soccer
September 27, 2006
The Texas A&M soccer team extended its undefeated run through the Big 12 portion of its season to a perfect 3-0-0, knocking off Oklahoma State 3-1 before an Aggie Soccer Stadium crowd of 3,636. Allison Martino dished out three assists on the evening, with Suzette Devloo scoring twice and Nicole Ketchum adding an insurance goal in the second half.
The Aggies (7-3-1) started the game at a blistering pace, quickly gaining control of the game?™s first 30 minutes. Aggie midfielders Paige Carmichael, Amy Berend and Amber Gnatzig worked in perfect coordination to pressure the Cowgirls anytime they had possession of the ball and then opened up the OSU defense with quick, precise passing as soon as the Aggies gained control.
A&M got on the scoreboard in the seventh minute when Martino drove a left footed corner kick into the OSU goalmouth, where Devloo out-jumped the entire Cowgirl defense to head home a shot from six yards out.
Just eight minutes later, Devloo made it 2-0 for A&M. Martino gained possession of the ball on the team?™s left sideline, where she dribbled a few touches and then served an early cross toward the OSU goal. Devloo was there waiting, and then jumped high to head the ball past OSU keeper Erin Stigler.
The Aggies controlled the majority of the remainder of the first half, out-shooting Oklahoma State 11-4 and earning six corner kicks to zero for OSU. However, the Cowgirls never quit. In the 40th minute, Yolanda Odenyo won a ball in the center circle, and played a long pass into the corner of the Aggie half of the field, where Angelika Fenderbacher controlled it and laid a pass back to Bettina Grossman, who then played a crisp pass into the feet of Cowgirls forward Leah Hope about 8 yards from the Aggie goal. Hope then spun and hit a hard low shot past the screened A&M goalkeeper, Kristin Arnold to make the score 2-1 going into halftime.
The second half belonged to Texas A&M. The Aggies left no doubt of the final result as they outshot the Cowgirls 12-0 in the second 45 minutes of play. Martino served up her third assist on an Aggie header in the 57th minute, when freshman Nicole Ketchum scored on another Aggie corner kick. It was Ketchum?™s third goal in the past two games.
One the evening, the Aggies stepped up into a first place tie with OSU at nine points each in the conference race. A&M has played one less game than Oklahoma State, and will be back on the field their home field Friday for a match against Big 12 rival, the Oklahoma Sooners.
?This is a nice win for us,? said Texas A&M coach G Guerrieri. ?OSU is a fine team. We had to work hard tonight, and I?™m really proud of the way our players approached and carried out the match.?
A&M?™s match against OU will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The soccer team will stay after the game to sign autographs.
