Sunday, September 6
College Station
6:00 PM
Texas A&M
5-1-0
4
vs
1
Abilene Christian
1-4-1
1
2
F
Abilene Christian
1
0
1
Texas A&M
1
3
4
Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Pounds Hat Trick Leads A&M to 4-1 Win over Abilene Christian
Sep 06, 2015 | Soccer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Haley Pounds netted three goals in a span of 12:37 in the middle of the second half to secure her first career hat trick and propel the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies to a 4-1 win over the Abilene Christian Wildcats Sunday night at Ellis Field.
The Aggie offense was overwhelming on the evening, logging advantages in shots (31-6), shots-on-goal (19-2) and corner kicks (12-2). The scoring margin was kept to three goals with a valiant effort by Abilene Christian goalkeeper Sydney Newton who made 14 saves.
With the score tied 1-1 midway through the second half, Pounds got to work on the hat trick. The first goal came with the help of hard work in the midfield by Stephanie Malherbe. The Aggie sophomore stripped the ball from a Wildcats midfielder and forced a throw-in in the A&M attacking third.
Malherbe threw the ball in to Kate Hajdu with her back to the goal at the right elbow of the penalty box. Hajdu sent a pass out to a charging Karlie Mueller who sent a service in from 25 yards. The offering went over the head of Brittany Crabtree who drew the attention of a defender and the goalkeeper. The ball arrived in the six-yard box to find an unmarked Pounds who guided the ball in off a thigh to give Texas A&M a 2-1 lead with 33:00 remaining in the second half.
Pounds next two goals were set up by Mikaela Harvey who drew a pair of fouls in the penalty box. Newton guessed the correct side on both of Pounds' penalty kicks, but perfect placement on made them unstoppable. The first PK came with 23:29 remaining and the second came with 20:23 left on the clock to give A&M a stout 4-1 lead.
Abilene Christian (1-4-1) jumped out to the early lead with a penalty kick of their own. Natalie Throneberry deemed to have been taken down in the box in the 17th minute. Chantal Kinsey converted on the attempt to give the Wildcats the 1-0 lead.
Texas A&M (5-1-0) offered a response just over two minutes later. In the 19th minute, Emily Bates charged down the right touchline, sending a ball to Malherbe entering the penalty box. Malherbe took one dribble and slipped a pass through two defenders to find Harvey at the right elbow of the six-yard box. Harvey used her right foot to send a missile into the left netting for the equalizer.
The offensive numbers belied the 1-1 halftime score. Texas A&M owned drastic edges in shots (15-2), shots-on-goal (9-2) and corner kicks (5-1).
Saucier and Hummel both saw action in goal for the Aggies. Saucier played the first 75:53 making one save and getting saddled with the penalty kick goal. Hummel went unchallenged in the final 14:07.
The hat trick was the 35th in program history. Shea Groom tallied the Aggies' most recent hat trick in last season's 3-0 win against Tennessee.
The win was No. 399 for head coach G Guerrieri. With his next victory, he'll become the sixth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach the 400-win plateau.
Texas A&M returns to action Thursday as they travel to Gainesville for a 6 pm match against the Florida Gators to open up the SEC portion of the schedule.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head coach G Guerrieri
On the match…
"In the end, I thought it was a good business like end for our team, unfortunate that we had one put against us early on. But I thought that the team played with total confidence and composure, there was no panic in the way we went about our business."
On Haley Pounds…
"Big night for Haley to get the hat trick. To score three goals in 13 minutes, that's pretty special. She has been playing with so much confidence, so much ability, and so much speed of play. The game was so fast for her last year as a freshman. You can tell that she is clearly in charge of the game right now."
On the second half…
"We had to raise our level to the speed of play that we can play. It was about us, with that said I thought ACU was fantastic."
On ACU goalkeeper Sydney Newton…
"Their goalkeeper, with 16 saves if that's not a school record for them then it's pretty high up there. That was a terrific performance by her. She made some outstanding saves that could have made it a lot worse earlier."
On Mikaela Harvey…
"Mikaela sets the table so many times for us on how she controls the speed of play and manipulates where we're going to attack. The way she brings other people into the game is pretty special."
Sophomore forward Haley Pounds
On what changed in the second half…
"I think we had much higher intensity in the second half and in the first half we were kind of sluggish. I think we amped it up a lot in the second half.
On penalty kicks…
"I practice penalty kicks a lot growing up so I wasn't too nervous, which helped me out a lot. I just went with shots I'm comfortable with and was able to put two in the back of the net."
On Mikaela Harvey…
"Props to her. She is awesome at getting defenders on her and making them draw a foul and so those two goals definitely came from her.
The Aggie offense was overwhelming on the evening, logging advantages in shots (31-6), shots-on-goal (19-2) and corner kicks (12-2). The scoring margin was kept to three goals with a valiant effort by Abilene Christian goalkeeper Sydney Newton who made 14 saves.
With the score tied 1-1 midway through the second half, Pounds got to work on the hat trick. The first goal came with the help of hard work in the midfield by Stephanie Malherbe. The Aggie sophomore stripped the ball from a Wildcats midfielder and forced a throw-in in the A&M attacking third.
Malherbe threw the ball in to Kate Hajdu with her back to the goal at the right elbow of the penalty box. Hajdu sent a pass out to a charging Karlie Mueller who sent a service in from 25 yards. The offering went over the head of Brittany Crabtree who drew the attention of a defender and the goalkeeper. The ball arrived in the six-yard box to find an unmarked Pounds who guided the ball in off a thigh to give Texas A&M a 2-1 lead with 33:00 remaining in the second half.
Pounds next two goals were set up by Mikaela Harvey who drew a pair of fouls in the penalty box. Newton guessed the correct side on both of Pounds' penalty kicks, but perfect placement on made them unstoppable. The first PK came with 23:29 remaining and the second came with 20:23 left on the clock to give A&M a stout 4-1 lead.
Abilene Christian (1-4-1) jumped out to the early lead with a penalty kick of their own. Natalie Throneberry deemed to have been taken down in the box in the 17th minute. Chantal Kinsey converted on the attempt to give the Wildcats the 1-0 lead.
Texas A&M (5-1-0) offered a response just over two minutes later. In the 19th minute, Emily Bates charged down the right touchline, sending a ball to Malherbe entering the penalty box. Malherbe took one dribble and slipped a pass through two defenders to find Harvey at the right elbow of the six-yard box. Harvey used her right foot to send a missile into the left netting for the equalizer.
The offensive numbers belied the 1-1 halftime score. Texas A&M owned drastic edges in shots (15-2), shots-on-goal (9-2) and corner kicks (5-1).
Saucier and Hummel both saw action in goal for the Aggies. Saucier played the first 75:53 making one save and getting saddled with the penalty kick goal. Hummel went unchallenged in the final 14:07.
The hat trick was the 35th in program history. Shea Groom tallied the Aggies' most recent hat trick in last season's 3-0 win against Tennessee.
The win was No. 399 for head coach G Guerrieri. With his next victory, he'll become the sixth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach the 400-win plateau.
Texas A&M returns to action Thursday as they travel to Gainesville for a 6 pm match against the Florida Gators to open up the SEC portion of the schedule.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head coach G Guerrieri
On the match…
"In the end, I thought it was a good business like end for our team, unfortunate that we had one put against us early on. But I thought that the team played with total confidence and composure, there was no panic in the way we went about our business."
On Haley Pounds…
"Big night for Haley to get the hat trick. To score three goals in 13 minutes, that's pretty special. She has been playing with so much confidence, so much ability, and so much speed of play. The game was so fast for her last year as a freshman. You can tell that she is clearly in charge of the game right now."
On the second half…
"We had to raise our level to the speed of play that we can play. It was about us, with that said I thought ACU was fantastic."
On ACU goalkeeper Sydney Newton…
"Their goalkeeper, with 16 saves if that's not a school record for them then it's pretty high up there. That was a terrific performance by her. She made some outstanding saves that could have made it a lot worse earlier."
On Mikaela Harvey…
"Mikaela sets the table so many times for us on how she controls the speed of play and manipulates where we're going to attack. The way she brings other people into the game is pretty special."
Sophomore forward Haley Pounds
On what changed in the second half…
"I think we had much higher intensity in the second half and in the first half we were kind of sluggish. I think we amped it up a lot in the second half.
On penalty kicks…
"I practice penalty kicks a lot growing up so I wasn't too nervous, which helped me out a lot. I just went with shots I'm comfortable with and was able to put two in the back of the net."
On Mikaela Harvey…
"Props to her. She is awesome at getting defenders on her and making them draw a foul and so those two goals definitely came from her.
Team Stats
ACU
TAMU
Goals
1
4
Shots
6
31
Shots on Goal
2
19
Saves
15
1
Corners
2
12
Fouls
11
7
Scoring Plays
Kinsey, Chantal
ACU Kinsey, Chantal PENALTY KICK GOAL.
16:26
Harvey, Mikaela (4)
Assisted By: Malherbe, Stephanie , Bates, Emily
Scored from right elbow of six-yard box,
18:42
Pounds, Haley (3)
Assisted By: Mueller, Karlie , Hajdu, Kate
Scored with thigh from four yards on off
57:00
Pounds, Haley (4)
TAMU Pounds, Haley PENALTY KICK GOAL, goal number 4 for season.
66:31
Pounds, Haley (5)
TAMU Pounds, Haley PENALTY KICK GOAL, goal number 5 for season.
69:37
Game Leaders
Shots
4
SOG
3
Goals
3
Assists
0
Shots
3
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
amf
Shots
7
SOG
5
Goals
0
Assists
1
Shots
3
SOG
2
Goals
0
Assists
1
Players Mentioned
M/F
/ Soccer
F
/ Soccer
F/M
/ Soccer
M
/ SoccerM
/ Soccer
M/F
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