Texas A&M
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Kansas
No. 10 Soccer Blanks Kansas on Friday
Oct 01, 2010 | Soccer
Oct. 1, 2010
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Texas A&M senior Alyssa Mautz scored in the 21st minute and the No. 10 Aggie soccer team held on for a 1-0 victory against Kansas on Friday evening at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
From O'Fallon, Mo., Mautz's ninth goal of the season and fourth game-winner improved A&M to 9-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12 Conference. Senior goalkeeper Kelly Dyer made four saves and shutout the Jayhawks who dropped to 4-7 overall and 0-3 in league play.
"Going on the road and getting a shutout win is great," said head coach G Guerrieri. "We did a good job as far as creating a lot of chances. We had so many opportunities to put an insurance goal in there and Kansas' goalkeeper was excellent today. She made a lot of big saves that kept the game close until the end, but we're excited to be able to get this win."
In what started in a back-and-forth match, soon turned in favor of the Aggies. From the 18th minute on in the first half, A&M dominated possession and outshot Kansas, 9-1, in the span.
With the ball at the feet of redshirt sophomore Beth West at the far corner of the penalty area in the 21st minute, she sent a centering pass to senior Amber Gnatzig. Gnatzig in turn found Mautz at the top of the box and Mautz had just enough space to fire off a shot into the right upper 90 to get A&M out to a 1-0 lead.
"Alyssa has such a great engine to be able to cover so much ground and put herself in dangerous situations," Guerrieri said. "With the goal that she scored, she saw a little window of opportunity and cracked it."
The Aggies nearly found another hole after a quick combination of passes from junior Rachael Balaguer, senior Whitney Hooper and senior Rachel Shipley in the 30th minute, but a solid strike from Shipley went off the near post.
After returning from the halftime break, A&M's strong play continued as they took six shots and held Kansas shotless in the first 15 minutes of the second period.
The match started to heat up, however, midway through the half as the Jayhawks searched for the equalizer.
After sophomore Nora Skelton created a pair of one-touch opportunities for West, Dyer made a great one-handed save at the near post on a hard shot from Emily Cressy in the 73rd minute. Kansas followed with a corner and Balaguer cleared a loose ball off the line before Whitney Berry hit the crossbar minutes later.
Junior Bri Young put a free kick on frame from midfield two minutes afterward that bounced off the crossbar on the opposite end.
With three minutes remaining in the match, Mathias almost closed in another great string of passes between Mautz, Gnatzig and Shipley.
The Aggies nearly doubled the Jayhawks in shots, 27-15, and held a 10-4 shot on goal advantage. A&M also took six corner kicks, while Kansas managed just one.
Mautz fired off a career-high and game-best nine shots, while Mathias took five strikes with four on frame. Berry tallied a team-high six shots for Kansas and the Aggies forced the Jayhawk keeper to make nine saves on the evening.
Texas A&M returns to the Aggie Soccer Stadium next weekend for a pair of Big 12 games against Baylor on Friday, Oct. 8 and Texas Tech on Sunday, Oct. 10.
