Aggies Play Arizona to 2-2 Draw

Friday, September 5

Tempe, Ariz.

8:30 PM

Texas A&M

4-0-1

Arizona

2-1-1

OT 3

OT 4

Arizona

Texas A&M

Sep 06, 2014 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

TEMPE, Arizona – Texas A&M snatched the match from the jaws of defeat with 33 seconds remaining in the second half, but were unable to pull out the win as the Aggies and Arizona Wildcats played to a 2-2 draw after two overtime periods in the first day of action at the Sun Devil Classic on Friday evening.

Bianca Brinson, who returned to the Aggie lineup after missing the last three matches due to illness, recorded both goals for A&M to improve her season tally to three.

With the Maroon and White seemingly headed to their first loss of the season, the Aggies mounted an attack in the waning moments of the second half. With less than 40 seconds remaining, Shea Groom sent a pass down the right side to Kelley Monogue in the penalty box. Monogue sent the ball goalward from 10 yards out and Brinson redirected it into the net for the equalizer, tying the match at 2-2 with 89:27 showing on the clock.

Texas A&M had two keen chances to knock in the game-winner in overtime, but came up empty. In the 92nd minute, Allie Bailey sent in a missile from 30 yards that hit the crossbar and then ricocheted off the back of Arizona netminder Gabby Kaufman and out-of-bounds, just right of the goal. In the 99th minute, Meghan Streight took a free kick at the top of the arc that sailed just inches over the crossbar.

Renee McDermott helped the Aggies stay out of the loss column with a leaping punch to knock a Wildcat shot left of goal with 1:30 remaining in the second overtime.

The Aggies missed numerous opportunities in regulation that could have proven to be the difference. Brinson hit the left post and Monogue was unable to put home the carom in the 25th minute. Coming out of halftime, Groom had a pair of shots from six yards out in the 49th minute, but was stonewalled both times by Kaufman. Kunz had a one-on-one chance from 15 yards out and launched a shot that Kaufman saved in an effort to preserve her face in the 68th minute.

Arizona drew first blood in the 38th minute. After the Aggies' defense was unsuccessful in clearing an attack, Gabi Stoian gathered the ball and booted a shot from 20 yards out to the left of a diving McDermott for the 1-0 lead.

The Aggies spent much of the first half in the Arizona territory, but didn't strike copper until the 43rd minute. McKayla Paulson boomed a long clearance to Kunz who was hustling down the left side of the pitch. Kunz got by the Wildcats' defender and poked a pass to Brinson who was sprinting through the center of the penalty box. Brinson collected the cross and launched a shot into the left side-netting to knot the match at 1-1.

The Wildcats reclaimed the lead with 6:14 remaining in regulation. Stoian sent a free kick in from 30 yards and it found the head of Hannah Stevens in the penalty box for the go-ahead goal.

The squads went into the intermission knotted at 1-1, but the Aggies owned the advantages in shots (14-6), shots-on-goal (6-3) and corner kicks (2-1).

For the contest, A&M owned a 24-16 edge in shots and 13-7 advantage in shots-on-goal. Despite egregious rough-housing, the foul count was just 8-7 with Arizona on the heavy side.

McDermott logged five saves in goal for A&M while Kaufman was credited with 11 stops.

Texas A&M returns to action on Sunday as they play host Arizona State in a 3 pm match at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri

On the match…
I was pleased with our fight. Arizona did what Arizona does very well. It's hard to play against. They have some players who can kick the ball a really long way. They're big and physical and they're tough to play against. To come from behind twice, I was pleased with. It was unfortunate that we didn't finish off the three break-away opportunities and we hit the woodwork numerous times. All-in-all, the players are disappointed we didn't get the win in overtime, but the fight to come back and put ourselves in a position to win is something we can build on.

On turning missed opportunities into goals in the future…
We had more people available to us tonight. One of our strengths is the depth in our attack. I was pleased with the way BB (Bianca Brinson) got herself into good positions. She had a couple good looks in front of goal. Annie (Kunz) and Shea (Groom) each had a couple good looks in front of goal. Allie (Bailey) had some solid opportunities late. We'll finish these opportunities as we go along and I'm confident this game will help us improve going forward.

On backline play…
With their long flip throw-in and their constant bombing of our backline, it kept us under pressure. You can keep the ball for so long and then – bang – it's on top of you again. I was pleased with the way our backline handled all of that. Renee (McDermott) had a couple really good snap saves of flicks and rebounds.