Aggies Strike the Gold in the 90th Minute to Beat Kentucky, 2-1

Sunday, October 5

College Station

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

10-2-1, 4-1-0SEC

Kentucky

7-5-0, 2-3-0SEC

Kentucky

Texas A&M

Oct 05, 2014 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies were able to strike the winning colors at Ellis Field for the 200th time thanks to a goal by Bianca Brinson in the last minute of regulation in a 2-1 victory over the Kentucky Sunday afternoon, sending the Wildcats back to bluegrass country with long faces. The Aggies improved to 200-30-5 all-time at their current home pitch.

The first 20 minutes of the first half were real quiet until the Aggie offense was accented with some California chrome in the form of San Clemente-native Janae Cousineau. Meghan Streight sent in a free kick from the middleground, about 40 yards from goal, and it took one bounce to the feet of Cousineau in the six-yard box and she sent it to the back of the net to end the Sunday silence in the 23rd minute.

Kentucky (7-5-0, 2-3-0 SEC) had one spectacular bid for a goal in the first half, but it was snuffed out on the goal line by Leigh Edwards. In the 19th minute, the Wildcats' midfield slipped a ball over the A&M backline. Jade Klump settled the lob at her feet 30 yards out and headed for a one-on-one confrontation with Aggie netminder Renée McDermott. McDermott charged out of the penalty box forcing a chip by Klump. The Kentucky forward chased down the ball for a shot near the left side six-yard box, but was unable to get a clean strike on the ball with a cavalcade of Aggie defensive reinforcements approaching. The nubber went towards the goal line where Edwards played exterminator, stomping out the opportunity with a solid clear.

Coming out of the intermission, neither squad was bubbling over with offensive opportunities. Both squads had a couple of shots that required a save with A&M's Allie Bailey providing the best shot-on-goal in the 63rd minute.

The Aggies (10-2-1, 4-1-0 SEC) looked like they would shut out the Wildcats until Kentucky was able take advantage of a defensive lapse in the 77th minute. Arin Gilliland dribbled the ball on the left flank and launched a cross from 10 yards off the endline just outside the penalty box. McDermott was unable to punch the orb away and it deflected off the hip of an A&M defender to tie the match at 1-1 with 13:20 remaining in the second half.

Rather than play pensive following the Wildcats' equalizer, the Aggies' offensive assault became unbridled behind the play of Brinson and Shea Groom in the final minutes.

With the game appearing to head to overtime after a pair of Groom shots went just inches north of the crossbar, Brinson took her turn. With just under a minute showing on the clock, Brinson unleashed a shot from 15 yards. The shot was stopped by Taylor Braun, but a clearance by the defender came back to Brinson and she said “I'll have another” and one-timed a shot from the right 10-yards out, putting it into the left netting with 52 seconds remaining in the half.

After Brinson's goal, Kentucky head coach Jon Lipsitz received a yellow card and immediately got another citation to get booked with the red card.

Although the Aggies' once again controlled the flow of play for most of a match, the A&M victory was not affirmed until the final whistle. The Maroon and White provided most of the cannonade for the match, outshooting Kentucky 16-10 for the contest and posting a 7-4 edge in shots-on-goal. The corner kicks were even at 5-5.

The Aggies are back to the grindstone on Friday as they head to Nashville, Tennessee for a 6 pm Central contest at Vanderbilt.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head Coach G Guerrieri

On the game today
“We backed off a bit because we wanted to play it smart and manage the game. Give Kentucky a lot of credit, they put themselves in positions to win the game. Renée McDermott made a lot of great saves, kept us alive. You can't play tired and you can't play scared against good teams like Kentucky.”

On the quick turnaround between Friday's game and today
“We had a very short amount of time for rest and recovery after our hard-fought game on Friday. When you're tired, your brain isn't all there, your first touch isn't as good as you wanted it to be. Compound all that with the wind we experienced today and it makes it difficult for both teams on the field.”

Senior forward Bianca Brinson

On her game-winning goal
“The ball came to me almost unexpectedly. My first thought was to shoot because there wasn't a lot of time left. You have to take any opportunity you can get, and fortunately this one went in.”