Game #4: Texas A&M 2, Connecticut 1
Records: Texas A&M (2-0-2, 0-0-0), Connecticut (1-1-0, 0-0-0)
Box Score
Saturday was electric.
Momentum is in effect.
Seeking revenge after last season’s 6-0 loss to UConn, Texas A&M added to the win column in front of 6,857 fans at Ellis Field, the second-largest crowd in program history.
At the start, the Aggies were in a 4-3-3, while the Huskies were also in a 4-3-3. The style of play for the Maroon & White was a mixture of heavy press in the attack and in defense.
In the first half, A&M’s mentality focused on capitalizing on opportunities.
“When you see your teammates working so hard on the field, you just want to capitalize on the momentum that we built,” forward Taylor Jernigan said. “And even though we got a little unlucky at the end of the first half, we knew that we were playing strongly.”
Contrarily, the Huskies used a mixture of 1-2 easy passes to build an attack and a spaced-out defense to have a man-on build type of defense to slow the tempo of the Aggie attack.
The mentality for UConn was spacing.
The match started with 24 minutes of silence from both sides, up until the 25th minute.
After being subbed into the game for less than a minute, Jernigan assisted forward Trinity Buchanan, who shot to the bottom left of the goal and scored to put the Aggies up 1-0.
In the 39th minute, Husky midfielder Kileigh Gorman was issued a yellow card for a noted tackle to an Aggie.
It was not long until the Huskies fired back and scored an equalizer.
In the 41st minute, A&M’s Bella James issued a foul from 40 yards away from the goal.
Defender Kaitlyn Richins proceeded to take an unassisted shot from the spot. Unaware of her positioning, goalkeeper Sydney Fuller let the ball pass through.
The first half ended with a halftime score of 1-1, with seven shots being taken by the Aggie attackers, and the goal scored being counted as the only shot on goal.
The second 45 minutes consisted of the same play style for the Maroon & White attack and defense, which was heavy press.
On the other side, the second half for the Huskies consisted of the same 1-2 easy passes to build an attack and for the same defensive mentality to slow the Aggies, again.
"I think that definitely towards the end, they were pressing a lot harder than they were at the start," defender Bella Yakel said. "So, I think the way that we were able to build out through the midfield and just everyone being comfortable on the ball.”
After a notable tackle was made in the 65th minute, Buchanan was issued a yellow card.
Following many attempted shots, Jernigan reclaimed the lead for the Aggies.
With less than five minutes to full-time, Holly Storer played a through-pass inside of the box, where Jernigan mistimed the first touch, but the recovery shot ended in an 86th-minute win.
Only conceding one goal on Saturday, the Aggies will use the UConn match to prepare moving forward.
“We want to make sure that we work hard to get there,” head coach G Guerrieri said. “Well, I think that they can use this now to show that we’ve climbed the mountain before.”
Up next, the Aggies will travel to Denver for their first away match of the 2025 season. Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. CT.
