Harvey's Goal Gives Aggies 1-0 Win Over Arkansas

Friday, October 23

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

13-4-0, 6-3-0SEC

Arkansas

5-10-1, 1-7-1SEC

Arkansas

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 23, 2015 | Soccer

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Sophomore standout Mikaela Harvey scored in the fifth minute and a stout Texas A&M defense made the lead stand as the Aggies registered a 1-0 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks at Ellis Field Friday evening.

The win kept the Aggies entrenched in the SEC title hunt with a 6-3-0 record in conference play. The Maroon and White are tied with Ole Miss and Auburn in third place, one point behind first-place Florida and Missouri who both have 6-2-1 ledgers in league action.

Texas A&M (13-4-0) remained perfect at Ellis Field on the season, outscoring opponents 25-2 while rolling to a 9-0-0 home mark, including seven shutouts. The Aggies stretched their home unbeaten string to 17 matches (16-0-1), including their current 14-match home win streak.

The victory also guaranteed the Aggies a winning record in SEC play. In their 20 seasons affiliated with a conference, the Maroon and White have finished every season over .500 in league action.

Harvey connected on the lone goal of the match 4:25 into the first half. Her run started when Karlie Mueller collected a ball on the defensive end and raced into transition towards the center stripe down the right flank. She dished a pass to Harvey who took her run into the penalty box on the right side. Eight yards out on the right side of the six-yard box, Harvey sliced a right-footed shot into the right upper 90 over a leaping Razorbacks' goalkeeper for her fifth goal of the season.

Texas A&M goalkeeper Mia Hummel recorded two saves on the evening to record her fourth shutout in her last five matches. The Aggie backline of Mueller, Ashlynn Harryman, McKayla Paulson and Grace Wright held Arkansas to 10 shots, two shots-on-goal and two corner kicks for the match as the Aggies racked up their eighth shutout of the season.

Arkansas (5-10-1) was back on their heels early in the contest as the Aggies peppered four shots-on-goal in the first 10 minutes and a Paulson header from 10 yards out was head goalward before a Razorback defender poked it outside the right post for a corner kick in the 11th minute.

The Razorbacks settled things down midway through the first half, but Texas A&M had two more scoring opportunities with Arkansas goalkeeper Jordan Harris making a save on a Paulson header in the 18th minute and a Haley Pounds shot from 15 yards out in the 21st minute.

The Aggies owned the advantages in shots (10-4), shots-on-goal (6-1) and corner kicks (5-0) in the first half and the edges ballooned to 20-6 for shots, 7-2 for shots-on-goal and 9-2 for corner kicks for the match.

Texas A&M missed on a couple scoring opportunities in the second half. In the 59th minute, Ally Watt's shot to finish a 3-on-2 counter attack came up inches wide to the left and less than a minute later Stephanie Malherbe drilled a shot from eight yards out on the left that Harris snuffed out on the near post.

The Aggies return to Ellis Field for their final regular-season home match Sunday against Ole Miss. First touch is slated for 6 pm.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head Coach G Guerrieri
On tonight's defensive performance:
"I thought our defense was great. We knew this is the way Arkansas is. We knew it was going to be an ugly game. Unfortunately, we should have scored three or four more goals, they made some courageous clearances off the line. We missed a couple of chances, which kept it a lot closer than the game actually was. Nonetheless, we know we can bank on our defense. I thought Mia [Hummel] had another good game. Ashylnn Harryman another great game, McKayla Paulson and Karlie [Mueller] and Grace [Wright] all were outstanding. We're going to need to play defense great defense on Sunday night when Ole Miss comes to town."

On Mikaela Harvey's performance:
"Great goal, brilliant goal, really well set up, and great finish by her. I don't know how far out she took it but that's the type of thing she can do. She beat her mark and was quick to penetrate and get the shot before they could step out and put any more pressure on her."

Sophomore midfielder Mikaela Harvey
On scoring the lone goal:
"I just knew that we had to get one in early because usually when we get one in early it's easier for us to play our game quickly so I saw an open goal and went for it. Luckily the ball was like a balloon and went right in the back of the net, so that was nice."

On Arkansas:
"I know they are a really good defending team, they're not known for their attacking but they're really good at defending so I think usually that's why we needed to get one in early because if we didn't get one right away then they were going to just defend us and it was probably going to be a tie."

Junior defender Ashlynn Harryman
On importance of A&M defense:
"It's definitely important for everyone's sense of defense not just specific defenders and just for us to make sure we keep hold of the ball and not give them the opportunities pushing in front of the net or anywhere on our half."