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Aggies Drop a 2-0 Decision at Florida
Texas
A&M and the Gators now share the top spot in the SEC standings
heading into the regular-season finale against LSU at Ellis Field
GAINESVILLE, Florida –
The Texas A&M Aggies dropped a 2-0 decision to the No. 7 Florida
Gators on Sunday afternoon at Pressly Stadium.
With
the result, Florida and Texas A&M now share the top spot in the SEC
standings with 24 points on 8-2-0 league ledgers. The squads have one
match remaining in the regular-season and the Gators own the potential
tie-breaker for the first seed in the SEC Tournament. The Aggies wrap
up the regular-season on Thursday when they host the LSU Tigers in a 7
pm contest at Ellis Field. Florida closes out league play with a 5:30
pm contest at Georgia on Thursday.
Two other teams
can capitalize if A&M and Florida both lose or tie their matches on
Thursday. South Carolina is in third place with 22 points (7-2-1) and
Kentucky ranks fourth with 21 points (7-3-0). The Gamecocks host the
Wildcats in a 6 pm match in Columbia on Thursday.
The
two top teams in the SEC played on an even keel for the first half.
With both squads throwing up stonewalls on defense, A&M held a 5-3
advantage on shots and 2-1 edge in shots-on-goal. The Aggies controlled
the possession for most of the first half and owned a 4-1 margin in
corner kicks.
The Aggies were inches away from
breaking the scoring seal on multiple occasions in the opening stanza.
Shea Groom laced a pair of shots that were a foot left of goal in the
first 15 minutes. Near the midway point of the first half, Leigh
Edwards launched a shot from 25 yards out that was also a mere foot
wide of the post. Heading into the intermission, Kelley Monogue and
Groom both launched shots with pace that forced saves from Taylor Burke.
The
Gators finally drew blood in the 51st minute of action. Savannah Jordan
was able to break through a seam in the Aggies’ defense and took a
one-on-one shot from 12 yards out. Jordan Day was able to make a save,
but the carom went back to Jordan eight yards out and she was able to
chip a looping shot that beat charging A&M defenders to the end
line.
Florida (14-3-1) added an insurance goal in
the 61st minute. It was again Jordan tallying the goal for the Gators.
Defender Christen Westphal slotted a pass to Jordan into the left
corner of the penalty box and Jordan was able to send a shot from 14
yards out to the right of a diving Day for the 2-0 advantage.
Texas
A&M (13-4-1) nearly drew first blood in the 46th minute. Annie Kunz
sent a shot in from eight yards out, but Burke made a diving post at
the right post to keep the game scoreless.
A Kunz shot from 18 yards out grazed the outside of the right post in an effort to tie the match at 1-1.
Trailing
2-0, Kunz forced a save on a shot from 25 yards out and Allie Bailey
was a step short of cleaning up the carom in the six-yard box.
With
four minutes remaining, the Aggies nearly connected on a goal. Kristi
Leonard placed a perfect lob pass from midfield over the Gators’
defense and into Bailey in the penalty box. Bailey slide a pass over to
Groom near the penalty spot for a scoring opportunity against a
disadvantaged netminder, but a Florida defender was able to get a foot
on the shot, sending it left of the goal for a corner kick.
For
the match, A&M held advantages in shots (15-12) and corner kicks
(6-4), but the Gators owned the 7-5 edge in shots-on-goal.
Day made five saves in goal, including four in the second half. Burke made five saves in goal to post the shutout for Florida.
Monogue
recorded five of A&M’s 15 shots, including two on frame. Groom
launched four with one on-goal and Annie Kunz had three shots, forcing
two saves by Burke.
Jordan accounted for seven of Florida’s 11 shots, including six of the Gators’ seven shots-on-goal.
The loss snapped an eight-match win streak for the Aggies and a four-match road win streak.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach G Guerrieri
Overall
thoughts: I thought that we created some decent scoring chances. We had
a lot of looks on goal, but on the day Florida stuck their chances and
we didn’t. We didn’t hit the target when we need to.
On
the difference between the first and second half: Give a lot of credit
to Florida. They came out played really well in the second half. They
converted on two counterattacks. I thought that we played hard, but we
didn’t keep possession of the ball enough in the second half to keep
Florida defending.
On the opportunity to play for
an SEC against LSU on Thursday: We’re excited that we have a chance to
win an SEC championship at home on a Thursday night and hopefully the
12th Man responds with a big crowd to help us do it.
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