Texas A&M
Davidson
Mathias Leads Aggies to Victory Over Davidson
Sep 03, 2010 | Soccer
Sept. 3, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M junior Merritt Mathias connected for her first three goals of the season and led the No. 7 Aggie soccer team to a 5-1 victory over Davidson on Friday night at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
In front of 2,584 fans, Mathias (Birmingham, Ala.) netted the first three Aggie goals and was followed with scores from senior Nicole Ketchum (Cypress, Texas) and junior Bri Young (Castle Pines North, Colo.) to mark A&M's (4-1) fourth straight win. The Wildcats evened their record at 2-2.
"Davidson came in and played hard and we had to score some really good goals to be able to get anything against them," said A&M head coach G Guerrieri. "I'm really pleased for Merritt to get three and Nicole and Bri also had great scores."
The Aggies jumped out to a quick lead in the seventh minute off the foot of Mathias. Young put the ball at the feet of Mathias at the top of the box. The forward created space and fired off a low-driving shot from 15 yards past the Wildcat keeper into the left-side netting.
Mathias made the score 2-0 just 12 minutes later. She received a pass from freshman Rachel Lenz, beat two defenders and struck a laser from 25 yards off the fingertips of a diving Jessica Baxa into the upper 90.
A&M continued to dominate the first half, but Davidson capitalized on its first and only scoring threat of the period. Amanda Flink headed in a corner kick from Allison Drutchas in the 33rd minute to cut the Aggie lead in half, 2-1.
Mathias was still on fire in the second period and struck for the third time in the 58th minute on a diagonal pass from senior Amber Gnatzig. Mathias received the ball at the top of the box and Baxa was forced to come out of the goal. She then buried the ball in the back of the net from 12 yards on her second touch.
Six minutes later the Aggies started to run away with the match. Senior Rachel Shipley found Ketchum outside the penalty area and the midfielder blasted a bending ball past Baxa to make the score 4-1.
A&M's final goal came when the Aggies capitalized on their eighth corner kick of the game at the 85-minute mark. Junior Carly Wohlers served the ball in to Young whose header ricocheted off the inside of the far post and into the back of the net for a 5-1 final.
Mathias led all players with seven shots, including five shots on frame. National Player of the Week, senior Alyssa Mautz was also strong offensively, firing off six shots with three shots on goal.
The Aggies controlled the majority of the match and came out ahead in every statistical category - shots (24-8), shots on goal (13-3) and corners (8-2).
Texas A&M takes to the road for the first time next weekend and heads north for matches against Indiana on Friday and Purdue on Sunday.
