August 09, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas- COLLEGE STATION, Texas ?- Close to 2,000 fans caught their first glimpse of the 2008 Texas A&M soccer team as they packed the stands for the Maroon & White Game following the Coach G Charity Bash Saturday evening at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
Maroon came out on top of the intrasquad scrimmage 4-0, but nearly every Aggie spent time on both teams. The match consisted of a three periods, the first of which was 30 minutes, followed by a 15-minute period and a full 45-minute half. Overall possession was back-and-forth throughout the night, with each team seeing quality scoring chances.
“Any kind of intrasquad game, especially with as young a group we have, is really hard because you’re playing against familiar people,” said A&M head coach G Guerrieri. “If you take that into account, I thought it was one of our more entertaining games. It was good possession and the adjustments we were trying to make as the game went on was to try to commit more people forward and make a bigger commitment in going into attack. All the way through I thought it was a real good first event for us to build on.”
The charity bash held prior to the Maroon & White Game raised approximately $32,000 for the Alexis Verzal fund. The money earned goes towards paying the medical expenses of Alexis Verzal as she works to overcome brain trauma injuries.
“The biggest thing for tonight was trying to help out the Verzal’s and it was better than expected,” Guerrieri said. “We beat our goal by a good margin and it was a nice thing for our community to do for them.”
On the field, the Maroon squad came out aggressive in the first period, firing off four shots in the first five minutes of play. Maroon held possession for the majority of the period, keeping the ball in its attacking third.
Maroon saw its first solid scoring opportunity in the game’s 13th minute. Junior Cydne Currie obtained a pass roughly 24 yards out as she was streaking down the right flank. The Irving, Texas, native took White keeper Kelly Dyer one-on-one, firing a hard shot that a diving Dyer was able to deflect. White defender Natalie Curie then collected the ball and was able to clear it, stifling any scoring threat.
The White squad came out strong in the second period, but it was again Cydne Curie who had the best chance to put Maroon on the board. In the last 10 seconds, she received a pass at the top of the penalty box as White keeper Sarah Pierson came out to cut down the angle. Currie then blasted a hard shot that Pierson kicked away as time ran out.
Sophomore Rachel Shipley got the Maroon squad on the scoreboard first, 15 minutes into the match’s final period. The product of Plano, Texas found herself open in the penalty area and drove the ball into the left side netting past a diving Pierson, putting Maroon up 1-0.
Alyssa Mautz added another Maroon goal after winning a 50/50 ball just outside the six-yard box. With the White keeper pulled out of goal, the sophomore transfer was able to blast a shot into the back of the net, giving Maroon the 2-0 lead.
With four minutes remaining, freshman Jennifer Kmezich was awarded a penalty kick on a hard foul and one-timed it home to make it 3-0.
Sophomore forward Whitney Hooper finished off the scoring in the game’s final seconds. The Houston, Texas, native was dribbling through the midfield and as the clock neared zero and was able to slide a shot on frame and into an open goal.
The Aggies take on Florida International in an exhibition game in Bradenton, Fla., on Thursday before returning to College Station for their season opener on Aug. 22 against Rhode Island.