Aggies Take Fresno St. in 2011 Opener, 4-2

Friday, August 19

College Station

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

1-0

Fresno State

0-1

Fresno State

Texas A&M

Aug 19, 2011 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Three freshmen scored goals as the No. 11 Texas A&M soccer team (1-0) defeated Fresno State (0-1), 4-2 on Friday, in the Aggies' season opener in front of a home crowd of 1,679 at Ellis Field.

The night held several firsts, as 10 freshmen took to the pitch for their first collegiate match. The stadium was also new to the program, with recent upgrades at Ellis Field completed just before the start of the season.

"There was a little bit of everything today," head coach G Guerrieri said. "Some glimpses were really good; there were some glimpses on our part that we thought were really bad, but correctable. I thought we did a good job as the night went on of actually playing better and better and better.

"There's a lot to be said for a group that's as young as ours to come out and be able to play through some early-season jitters. Just because we're the home team doesn't mean that we wouldn't have those in our first game and I thought that a lot of our players in their first game had really good games."

Freshman Shea Groom started the scoring rally for the Aggies late in the seventh minute. The Liberty, Mo., native took a header in the box off of a corner kick by senior Merritt Mathias and sent it left into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

After a big save by the A&M goalie, freshman Jordan Day, in the 12^th minute and a nail-biter shot by freshman Allie Bailey that went just wide of the frame, Fresno State got a shot off in the 35^th minute to tie the game. Midfielder Laura Dodd took a cross from Pernille Ingvaldsen in the right corner and kicked a 10-yard goal.

Junior Nora Skelton grazed the right crossbar with an attacking shot from the left in the 40^th minute in an attempt to rally.

With less than five minutes remaining in the first half, freshman Leigh Edwards gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead. The Coto de Caza, Calif., native scored from eight yards when she lifted a cross from freshman Kelley Monogue into the left side of the net.

"I think [freshman] Katie Perry, when she came into the match late in the first match, she's the one that kind of changed it for us," Guerrieri said. "Fresno had really gotten a good run of play in there and we couldn't get possession of the ball and Katie came in ... and [freshman] Allie Bailey came in and all of a sudden we were a different team."

Just six minutes into the second period, Bailey contributed her first goal of the match. Monogue passed the ball off to Groom, who attacked from the left and sent a lateral laser to Bailey, running into the box from the right. Bailey took the ball at the top of the goal box and swiftly passed the Fresno State goalie to expand A&M's lead to 3-1. The San Diego, Calif., native scored two goals for the Aggies.

Despite a fighting defense, the Bulldogs threatened to rally again in the 56^th minute. FSU forward Callie Hancock tangled with an Aggie defender in the box and when Day dove for a save, Hancock wiggled the ball free and took the score to 3-2.

Fresno State kicked two desperate shots in the 69^th minute, both long punts from the edge of the circle that Day easily grabbed out of the air. The Aggie defense kept the Bulldogs from taking any close range shots for the rest of the match.

Bailey sealed the deal with her second and final goal in the 75^th minute. The unassisted attack started near midfield as the freshman forward guided the ball through the FSU defense and netted a 12-yard shot for a 4-2 Aggie lead.

Day (1-0) picked up the win for A&M, grabbing eight saves while allowing only two goals in 90 minutes in goal. Fresno State goalie Katie Devault (0-1) also played the entire match, but picked up the loss after allowing four goals and making five saves.

The Aggies outshot the Bulldogs, 19-15, with a 10-9 shots-on-goal advantage for Fresno State. A&M is now 16-3 all-time in season openers and 14-1 since 1993.

The match was the second of the Aggieland Invitational, which began with a 2-1 win for UC Irvine against UTSA. The Aggies will take on UCI Sunday at 1:30 p.m. after a 10:30 UTSA-FSU matchup at Ellis Field. To learn more about Texas A&M soccer, log on to AggieAthletics.com.