March 01, 2008
Freshman transfer Alyssa Mautz scored a goal in each half to pace the defending Big 12 champion Texas A&M soccer team to a 4-1 win over the Mexico U20 National Team Saturday afternoon in front of 935 fans at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
?All in all I was pleased with our first full-sided outing of the non-traditional season, A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. ?For us to be able to beat a team as talented as Mexico is always a nice accomplishment.
?We have some great personalities on our team and one of our goals of the spring season is to continue developing the technical and tactical sides of our ladies' game while emphasizing the leader that they can be.?
Freshman Whitney Hooper got the Aggies on the scoreboard first in the game?â„¢s 29th minute. Junior Micah Stephens sent a long pass into the 18-yard box where Hooper collected the ball, dribbled once and fired a shot past Mexico goalkeeper Erika Vanegas to give A&M the 1-0 advantage.
Just a little over 11 minutes later A&M would strike again. Senior Amy Berend chipped a pass from the midfield over the head of a couple Mexico defenders to the feet of Mautz, who turned and lined the game-winning goal into the left-side netting to put the Aggies on top 2-0 heading into halftime.
Mautz would factor into the scoring again roughly nine minutes into the second period. Sophomore Cydne Currie dribbled through the defense and slipped just in front of the six-yard box but managed to slide a pass to a streaking Mautz who one-timed the ball into the back of the net for her second goal of the afternoon.
?I was happy with our attack today,? Guerrieri said. ?What a great debut for Alyssa Mautz to score two nice goals. I was very happy for her and real impressed that all four of our goals were scored by our young forwards. All four were real quality goals.?
Mexico answered in the game?â„¢s 60th minute when midfielder Dinora Garza found herself open in the penalty area. Garza took Aggie keeper Kristin Arnold one-on-one and laced the ball past a diving Arnold to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of A&M.
With the just under ten minutes remaining in the match, Currie would put the game out of reach. The speedster weaved through the defense and fired a shot from nine yards out to seal the victory for the Aggies.
A&M continues its spring exhibition schedule Sunday against LSU. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
?It is going to be physically and psychologically challenging for us to recover from this match and be ready in less than 24 hours to play a talented LSU team, who did not play on Saturday, Guerrieri ended. ?But those are the kind of tests we want to expose our players to this spring.?
Admission is free to the public.