Saturday night was alright.
Next begins the regular-season fight.
In the last preseason exhibition match, Texas A&M cruised to a 4-1 win over UTRGV on Saturday evening at Ellis Field. Along with Tuesday’s 4-0 win over Rice, the Aggies finish the preseason with a 2-0 record ahead of the 2025 campaign.
The first half started with the Maroon & White pushing to score multiple goals and mustering five shots early, but the Aggies kept on being drawn offside by the Vaqueros' backline position. On the opposite side, UTRGV managed only one shot on goal despite having five corner kicks, including one corner that came dangerously close to becoming a goal for the visitors.
In the 14th minute, forward Leah Diaz blasted a goal into the bottom left side of the net from the penalty spot. The first of two A&M penalty kicks put the Aggies up 1-0 early.
However, the Vaqueros crushed any A&M hopes of ending the game with a clean sheet as UTRGV forward Isabella Burtini scored in the 27th minute to level the match.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Leah Pirro’s set piece curved into the box and found Mia Scranton, and the junior transfer from California Baptist directed the corner kick into the goal to give A&M the lead once again.
The Aggies ended the first half up 2-1 on the Vaqueros, but their continuous attack for goals continued in the final 45 minutes.
With a flying start to the second half, the Aggies scored another early on as midfielder Trinity Buchanan made it 3-1 in the 48th minute. The next and final goal of the night came off of Taylor Jernigan’s penalty kick in the 64th. It marked Jernigan’s second goal of the preseason.
As the Aggie gap widened, the Vaqueros were shut down in the second half by A&M’s suffocating defense.
With the crippling effect that was done by the Aggies to the visitors, the Maroon & White started to ease the pace of the game as the final whistle neared.
In total, A&M outshot UTRGV 17-4. Further, the Aggies did not allow a second-half shot.
With the home opener and regular season upcoming, G Guerrieri & Co. hope similar performances can carry over from the exhibitions.
"Well, we'll look at both of these exhibition games because the whole issue of an exhibition game is scrimmages,” Guerrieri said. “These are controlled practices.”
Despite conceding just once throughout the two preseason matches, the Aggies still have work to be done ahead of next week.
"We're going to have to be a lot sharper in our finishing and the way that we start the game," Guerrieri said.
A&M will host the Baylor Bears at Ellis Field in their home opener on Thursday. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. CT.
