COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Limited to just 12 field players for Saturday's exhibition match, the Texas A&M Aggies dropped a 3-1 decision to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls at Ellis Field. The match was played with three 30-minute periods.
The Aggies were playing without four starters, including all three midfielders from last seasons' NCAA Elite Eight run. Midfielders Mikaela Harvey and Stephanie Malherbe and forward Ally Watt are all out of the country on international soccer endeavors and midfielder Emily Bates is recovering from an injury.
The Maroon and White also had freshmen Cienna Arrieta and Jenna Byers and rising sophomores Brittany Crabtree and Margaret Schmidt on the shelf for the match with injuries. The Aggies played the final five minutes with just 10 players as various players were having minor injuries treated.
Texas A&M owned the advantage in shots for the contest, 16-13, but Oklahoma State was able to get the most dangerous shots, with an 8-6 edge in shots-on-goal. The Aggies also had a 4-1 edge in corner kicks, but were unable turn the advantage into offense.
Haley Woodard scored in the fifth minute of action, launching a shot from 20 yards out on the right past A&M keeper Mia Hummel and into the left side netting. The Cowgirls netted their second goal in the 32nd minute with Tori Ruszkowski putting a shot home from eight yards for the 2-0 advantage.
Texas A&M finally got on the scoreboard in the 48th minute. Haley Pounds fed the ball into the penalty box from 25 yards, finding Jordan Hill who beat the keeper from 12 yards for her third goal of the spring.
Oklahoma State closed out the scoring in the 58th minute with Holly Brehmer putting back a rebound from six yards.
Neither team was able to score in the final 30-minute period despite it seeing the most work on the offensive end with A&M taking seven of its 16 shots and Oklahoma State taking six of their 13.
Texas A&M returns to action at Ellis Field on Friday, April 8 as they host the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League in a 7 pm contest.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On the match…
"This was a great opportunity for our 12 available field players to see some action against a quality opponent. A lot of them went out and got some good experience. Our three freshmen got a good look at a team that will be battling near the top of the Big 12 this season. And we had some veterans who didn't see much action last year get to show what they can do. OSU finished three of the four good chances with some quality and that was the difference."
On the spring to date…
"I think we've gotten better. Our players have gotten better every week that we've been going in our non-traditional season. We've got another week before spring break and then we come back and have a couple of weeks to prepare for the Houston Dash. That match against the Dash will give us a better idea of where we are at because we'll have some more players available to play.
The Aggies were playing without four starters, including all three midfielders from last seasons' NCAA Elite Eight run. Midfielders Mikaela Harvey and Stephanie Malherbe and forward Ally Watt are all out of the country on international soccer endeavors and midfielder Emily Bates is recovering from an injury.
The Maroon and White also had freshmen Cienna Arrieta and Jenna Byers and rising sophomores Brittany Crabtree and Margaret Schmidt on the shelf for the match with injuries. The Aggies played the final five minutes with just 10 players as various players were having minor injuries treated.
Texas A&M owned the advantage in shots for the contest, 16-13, but Oklahoma State was able to get the most dangerous shots, with an 8-6 edge in shots-on-goal. The Aggies also had a 4-1 edge in corner kicks, but were unable turn the advantage into offense.
Haley Woodard scored in the fifth minute of action, launching a shot from 20 yards out on the right past A&M keeper Mia Hummel and into the left side netting. The Cowgirls netted their second goal in the 32nd minute with Tori Ruszkowski putting a shot home from eight yards for the 2-0 advantage.
Texas A&M finally got on the scoreboard in the 48th minute. Haley Pounds fed the ball into the penalty box from 25 yards, finding Jordan Hill who beat the keeper from 12 yards for her third goal of the spring.
Oklahoma State closed out the scoring in the 58th minute with Holly Brehmer putting back a rebound from six yards.
Neither team was able to score in the final 30-minute period despite it seeing the most work on the offensive end with A&M taking seven of its 16 shots and Oklahoma State taking six of their 13.
Texas A&M returns to action at Ellis Field on Friday, April 8 as they host the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League in a 7 pm contest.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On the match…
"This was a great opportunity for our 12 available field players to see some action against a quality opponent. A lot of them went out and got some good experience. Our three freshmen got a good look at a team that will be battling near the top of the Big 12 this season. And we had some veterans who didn't see much action last year get to show what they can do. OSU finished three of the four good chances with some quality and that was the difference."
On the spring to date…
"I think we've gotten better. Our players have gotten better every week that we've been going in our non-traditional season. We've got another week before spring break and then we come back and have a couple of weeks to prepare for the Houston Dash. That match against the Dash will give us a better idea of where we are at because we'll have some more players available to play.