February 11, 2007
The Texas A&M soccer team opened its 2007 spring season with four convincing victories to win its annual 7-v-7 Tournament at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
The Aggies defeated the University of Houston, 5-1; Rice University, 8-3; Texas-San Antonio, 6-0 and the University of North Texas, 13-1, in 50-minute mini-games. A&M finished the tournament as the only unbeaten and un-tied team.
The Aggies won the four matches despite not having a traditional goalkeeper. Freshman keeper Kristin Arnold was in California training with the USA under-20 National Team, so the team's goalkeeper duties were shared throughout the day by regular field players (Melissa Garey, Paige Carmichael, Amy Berend, Allison Martino and Elisabeth Jones). A&M simply put an extra emphasis on possessing the ball in their opponent's end of the field and trying to outscore each team they played.
The Aggie attack was paced by freshman forward Cydne Currie, who scored nine goals on the day, including six in the win over UNT. Juniors Amy Berend, Elisabeth Jones, Allison Martino, Paige Carmichael, Ashlee Pistorius and Melissa Garey also had multiple goals and assists on the day.
"This was a good start to our non-traditional season," commented Aggie head coach G Guerrieri. "I believe the team played better as the day went on and I thought that Kelly Wilmoth, Sarah Albrecht and Natalie Currie all had good performances in defense. We were generally pleased with the ball possession and goal production of many of our players."
The Aggies will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 24, when the defending Big 12 champion Aggies host LSU at the Aggie Soccer Stadium in a full sided (11-v-11) exhibition. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. and admission is free to the public.