Monogue Puts Soccer into Elite Eight

Sunday, November 23

College Station

1:30 PM

Texas A&M

21-2-2

Notre Dame

14-6-2

Notre Dame

Texas A&M

Nov 23, 2014 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M senior Kelley Monogue continued her postseason offensive prowess to propel the No. 5 Aggies to a 2-1 win over the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in an NCAA Division I Championship third round match at Ellis Field on Sunday afternoon.

Monogue tallied a pair of goals for her third multiple-goal match of the tournament. The McKinney, Texas-native has six goals in the tournament, 17 on the season and 52 for her career.

The win sends A&M to the NCAA Championship quarterfinal (Elite Eight) for the fifth time in school history and it marks the first time Maroon and White will host a quarterfinal match. The Aggies are slated to play Penn State at Ellis Field in a 7 pm match on Saturday, November 29.

The game-winner for Monogue came in the 82nd minute. With the match tied at 1-1, the Aggies were able to rev an engine that idled a bit midway through the match. With midfielders Stephanie Malherbe and Shea Groom causing havoc for the Fighting Irish defense, Notre Dame struggled with a clearance. Monogue pounced on the errant kick just outside the penalty box to the right of the arc and launched a low drive to the left of the keeper to stake A&M to a 2-1 lead with 8:39 remaining in the contest.

After scoring the go-ahead goal, the Aggies were able to clamp down on a Fighting Irish offense that launched 11 shots in the first 36:21 of the second half. Notre Dame was only able to get off one shot in the final 8:39.

Texas A&M pounced on Notre Dame early to take a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute of play. Monogue took a corner kick from the left arc with the sun directly behind her. With the 6-foot Annie Kunz providing a distraction and the sun causing grief, Fighting Irish goalkeeper Kaela Little lost track of the bender from Monogue and it crossed the goal line to give the Aggies the early advantage.

The Maroon and White took the first five shots of the match, but after Monogue's goal the offensive possession swung to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish outshot A&M 7-2 for the remainder of the first half and the teams headed into the intermission with the shots even at 7-7.

Notre Dame (14-6-2) continued to press the issue in the second half and it paid off with numerous corner kick opportunities. After swinging and missing on a few chances, the Fighting Irish finally struck gold on their seventh try in the 72nd minute. Sabrina Flores sent the ball in from the left arc and found Karin Muya at the far post for the equalizer.

Less than a minute later Notre Dame would have another corner kick opportunity, but were unable to capitalize on what would prove to be their last solid chance on the offensive end.

For the match, Notre Dame owned a 19-12 edge in shots and an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks. The shots-on-goal were even at 6-6.

Jordan Day made five saves in goal for the Aggies. Little tallied four saves for Notre Dame.

With the win, A&M set a school record with their 21st victory, topping the 20-win effort from 2002. The victory improved Aggies' unbeaten string to 13 matches. The Maroon and White are 12-0-1 since suffering a 1-0 loss to Florida on October 3.

Texas A&M improved to 23-4-1 all-time in NCAA Championship matches at Ellis field, winning their eighth in a row and the 14th in the last 15.

Notre Dame's season ended with their 18th trip to the third round of the NCAA Championship while playing in their 22nd consecutive tournament.

POSTMATCH QUOTES

Texas A&M

Head Coach G Guerrieri

On winning a tough-fought game...
"Winning a game like this is huge. To know that we can battle and beat a three-time national champion gives a lot of credit to our girls. We got some valuable experience today that we can use going forward in the tournament."

Senior forward Kelley Monogue

On her corner kick goal in the first half...
It went over Annie's (Kunz) head and she's really tall. She kind of distracted everyone in the box. The defender on the post tried to clear it but she didn't get around on it fast enough and the ball went in. The wind was switching directions and it helped bend the ball a little bit."

Senior defender Megan Streight

On the feelings after the second goal...
"It was just a matter of keeping the ball and killing as much time as possible at that point. We knew that we put it away and there was no way we were going to let them get back into the game."

Notre Dame

Head Coach Theresa Romagnolo

On goalkeeper Kaela Little handling Kelley Monogue's corner kick for a goal...
“I think she misjudged it. I haven't seen the replays so it's hard for me to say but it looked like we misjudged it and unfortunately it went back in the net. The sun was a factor on both goals. The wind was kind of a cross wind today so I mean it affected both teams equally.”

On responding to A&M's goal...
“I actually feel like after they scored we were the better team for the whole match. I thought that we actually really dominated after getting scored on and had a lot of opportunities that we just didn't tuck away. A&M did a good job at defending their box and we created a lot of opportunities for ourselves.

“After that [A&M scoring 5 minutes into first half] I feel like we just came alive and dominated the midfield, got a lot of 50/50 balls, came away with possessions, made a lot of opportunities. The effort for me was fantastic after we allowed that goal.”

Thought's on the season ending...
“Well I think the expectations are to get to the Final Four, so I think at the end of the day there's disappointment right now. I feel like this was a game that we felt that we should win. Again, credit to Texas A&M for finding a way to score the two goals but at the end of the day I feel disappointed because I feel like we could've achieved more today.”