No. 22 Aggies Blank Texas, 3-0

Friday, October 28

Austin, Texas

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

13-5-1, 6-1-1

Texas

10-7-1, 3-4-1

Texas A&M

Texas Longhorns

Oct 28, 2011 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 22 Texas A&M soccer team blanked Texas, 3-0, in the Aggies' final game of the regular season, Friday in Austin.

With the victory, the Aggies earned a point for A&M in the 2011-12 State Farm Lone Star Showdown, an all-sports rivalry between the Aggies (13-5-1, 6-1-1 Big 12) and Longhorns (10-7-1, 3-4-1 Big 12). The Aggies will enter the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 2 seed next week, facing No. 7 seed Kansas at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

"It's a good win for us," head coach G Guerrieri said. "Any time we can come to Austin and win, it's good for all Aggies everywhere. It was a good performance all-around. We had good defense - they had two good chances and in both situations we put pressure on them and stopped their shots."

The Aggies worked the ball early-on, keeping Texas out of shooting range until the Longhorns took their first shot in the 16^th minute.

Less than eight minutes into the match, freshman Kelley Monogue was fouled at the top of the arc. Senior Merritt Mathias stepped in to take the free kick and slammed a shot into the crossbar as Texas goalkeeper Alexa Gaul lost the ball in the setting sun and dove left.

In the 15^th minute Mathias took the ball into the right corner and was trapped by Texas defenders. The forward sent a pass to senior Rachael Balaguer, who fired from the right edge of the 18-yard box and forced a save.

With just under 30 minutes remaining in the first half, junior Beth West's corner kick fell square in the center of the six-yard box where sophomore Rachel Lenz headed the ball. The dangerous shot was blocked by a Texas defender.

In the 37^th minute, West went to the corner for another set piece. Texas headed the corner kick out of harm's way but the ball was quickly sent back to the Aggie attacking third where it trickled to the feet of freshman Annie Kunz. Kunz found herself at a bad angle to the goal, however, and sent the ball back out to freshman Meghan Streight in the six-yard box. Streight one-touched a laser that ricocheted off of the crossbar.

The Aggies' perseverance paid off in the 39^th minute when senior Bri Young sent a shot into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. Freshman Leigh Edwards gathered the ball at midfield and looped a pass in to Young, just outside the 18-yard box. Young fired from 25 yards and sent the ball through the goalmouth on the far side. The shot hit the inside of the far post and bounced behind Gaul into the back of the net.

A&M maintained possession of the ball from kickoff in the second half. Senior Megan Majewski had two consecutive shots off of corner kicks in the 48^th minute. The first was blocked by a Texas defender, creating another corner kick opportunity. Majewski's second shot was headed wide.

A Kelley Monogue goal in the 50^th minute expanded the Aggies' lead to 2-0. Freshman Bianca Brinson sent the ball in to the attacking forward. Texas' Lucy Keith tried to clear the ball, but Monogue blocked the pass and took the ball toward the goal. Gaul came out of the box and missed a tackle as Monogue dribbled around a Longhorn defender and fired from the left side of the six-yard box for A&M's second goal of the night.

The Longhorns had their closest shot of the night in the 57^th minute when forward Kylie Doniak hit the right post. Texas looked determined, but a swarming A&M defense kept the Longhorns' chances to a minimum.

Aggie goalkeeper Jordan Day was forced to make her first save of the match in the 74^th minute when a long ball from Texas' Kristin Cummins bounced in front of her.

Just seconds later, junior Katie Hamilton sent a pass in to Mathias from the circle. The senior forward lobbed a shot from the upper right corner of the 18-yard box that soared into the back of the net as the Aggies jumped to a 3-0 lead.

A shot by Texas' Lexi Harris from 15 yards in the 79^th minute gave Day her biggest challenge of the night. The freshman keeper leapt to grab the save, landing wide of the goalmouth.

The Longhorns were unable to complete passes in their offensive third through the end of the match, and the Aggies walked away with a 3-0 victory over Texas and half-a-point for A&M in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown.

The win was Day's sixth shutout of the season. The Aggies have won 10 of the last 12 games and have held opponents to just two goals in the past eight matches.

The Aggies end the 2011 regular season as the conference runners-up, and will enter next week's Big 12 Tournament as the second-seeded team. A&M will play No. 7 seed Kansas at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Blossom Soccer Complex in San Antonio.

"We're on a good run right now," Guerrieri said. "We've got a lot of different people scoring goals. We have a few days now to get ourselves healthy before we play what is going to be a really difficult game against a really good Kansas team. That's a tough opponent for a quarterfinal match in the conference tournament."

All of A&M's conference tournament matches will feature live audio on AggieAthletics.com. Wednesday's match will also be featured on 95.1-3 The Zone HD, making it available worldwide on any smartphone or HD radio. Visit RadioAggieland.com to download the app.

All semifinal and quarterfinal matches will be streamed live on the conference web site, Big12Sports.com, and the championship game at 3:30 p.m. Sunday will be shown live regionally on FSN. To learn more about Texas A&M soccer, log on to Aggie Athletics.com.