Texas A&M
UAB
No. 7 Aggies Dominate Exhibition Match
Aug 15, 2009 | Soccer
Aug. 15, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 7 Texas A&M soccer team put on a dominating performance in its exhibition match against UAB on Saturday night with a 4-0 victory in front of 915 fans at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
Four different Aggies scored, including two freshmen, and every fit and healthy A&M player saw time on the field. Aggie head coach G Guerrieri and the team gave fans their money's worth as the teams played a full 90-minute match plus two 10-minute overtime periods. The fans and Guerrieri liked what they saw.
"It was a real good performance from a lot of players," said Guerrieri." I was pleased and I knew I was going to be pleased just by the way the training sessions have gone. As much as anything, it's great to be able to play someone besides your teammates. It's a preseason game, but we're excited about it and we're excited about the fact that we got through it with no injuries. Now we can start to evaluate from this and hopefully get better before we have to play USC in a week."
The Aggie offense started quickly, earning its first corner kick just three minutes into the match. The initial corner was cleared by the defense, but junior Rachel Shipley immediately knocked a header back to the near post that was saved on the line by a UAB defender.
A&M persisted in its attacking third and at the seven-minute mark freshman Kimberly Castleberry sprinted into the six-yard box and headed in the first goal of the game off of a cross from sophomore Beth West.
West helped set up another opportunity 10 minutes later as she found junior Whitney Hooper near the end line. The Houston, Texas, product beat her defender 1v1 towards the goal and was taken down hard inside the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Shipley connected to put A&M up 2-0.
Just over 20 minutes into the second half, West added to the Aggies' lead. On a pass from Castleberry, the Centennial, Colo., native dribbled past two defenders and slid a shot across the goal into the right-side netting.
Freshman Catalina Clavijo finished off the scoring in the game's 80th minute. From Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, Clavijo chased down a long ball from sophomore Kat Armstrong and finished it off past a diving UAB keeper who attempted to cut down the angle.
Texas A&M outshot the Blazers 29-6 and took the edge in corner kicks, 8-7. Of the Aggies' 11 shots on goal, freshman Mary Grace Schmidt and sophomore Lisel Kraus each blasted shots from 30+ yards that bounced off the crossbar, just missing the goal.
Junior goalkeepers Kristin Arnold and Kelly Dyer split time evenly for the combined shutout.
The Aggies open the regular season against No. 8 USC on Saturday, Aug. 22 at the Aggie Soccer Stadium. Individual and season tickets to all A&M home matches are still available for purchase online at tickets.12thmanfoundation.com or by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE.
