A&M Back atop SEC Standings Following 3-1 Win Over Auburn

Friday, October 17

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

12-2-1, 6-1-0SEC

Auburn

7-5-3, 1-3-3SEC

Auburn

Texas A&M

Oct 17, 2014 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies worked their way back to the top of the SEC standings with their 3-1 win over the Auburn Tigers on Friday evening at Ellis Field.

The Aggies took advantage of Florida's 3-2 loss to South Carolina on Thursday to pull even with the Gators in the league ledger on Friday. Both squads have 18 points on 6-1-0 marks in SEC action to pace the conference. The duo is three points clear of third-place Missouri (5-2-0) with four games remaining on all of the teams' slates.

All of the goals came in the first half of the match with Texas A&M overwhelming Auburn early with three goals. Twice the Maroon and White benefited from the secondary attack on a corner kick opportunity to put the biscuit in the basket.

In the 18th minute, the brilliance of a Karlie Mueller throw-in led to an Annie Kunz goal. Mueller's flip throw took one bounce and sprang over the head of Auburn goalkeeper Alyse Scott. It hit the crossbar and caromed to Kunz who drilled it into the back of the net with a half volley from six yards out for the 1-0 lead.

More Texas A&M pressure led to the second goal, scored in the 27th minute. When the Aggies' opening effort off a corner kick was foiled, Brinson collected the remains of Auburn's ineffective clear. She took a shot from the right side of the six-yard box, launching a missile that deflected off the leg of an Auburn defender and into the left side-netting to inflate the cushion to 2-0.

Janae Cousineau gave A&M a 3-0 lead in the 35th minute, scoring in her third consecutive match. The Aggies once again stayed on the offensive after their initial corner kick opportunity when awry. This time Stephanie Malherbe collected the ball to the right side of the penalty box arc and lofted a diagonal ball to the left post. It was floating left of the goal and appeared headed for a goal kick, before Cousineau put her head on it sending it past an unsuspecting Scott for the 3-0 lead.

The only snag in Texas A&M's evening came in the 41st minute. The Aggies took an Auburn offensive player down in the penalty box giving the Tigers a penalty kick opportunity. A&M goalkeeper Renée McDermott guess the correct way, but couldn't get her mitt on Brooke Ramsier's offering as Auburn trimmed the lead to 3-1 heading into the intermission.

The Aggies continued to dictate the terms of action in the second half, owning the wealth of the possession. The Maroon and White logged advantages in shots (8-3), shots-on-goal (3-0) and corner kicks (2-1).

Two netminders split the match for Texas A&M. Renée McDermott made one save in the first half and yielded Auburn's lone goal of the match on the penalty kick. Jordan Day put a zero on the board in the second half. She did not record a save, but won numerous crosses and corner kicks in the air.

Scott played all 90 minutes for Auburn, logging seven saves on the evening.

The match guaranteed the Aggies a winning record in league action. In the prior 18 seasons playing in a conference, the closest A&M has finished to .500 is a 5-3-2 (.600) record in Big 12 play in 2003.

Texas A&M returns to action on Sunday as the Aggies travel to Starkville for a 1 pm contest against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On the game tonight…
"It puts us back in first in the SEC, which is great. We knew that this was going to be a physical game because that's just the style of play Auburn likes. It's hard to play against, so I was really pleased with the way our girls played tonight. I was really pleased with our toughness; all three of our goals were scored with great effort."

Senior forward Annie Kunz
On her goal…
"I felt bad taking credit for it because Karlie Mueller's throw-in was headed straight for the goal! It's a good thing it hit the post because it fell right in front of me and I was able to punch it in. I give all the credit for that goal to Karlie."