ORANGE BEACH, Alabama – Freshmen Ally Watt and Emily Batesscored goals late in the second half and Danielle Rice posted a shutout in her first start in goal as an Aggie to lead Texas A&M to a 2-0 win over the Ole Miss Rebels in an SEC Tournament quarterfinal match Wednesday afternoon at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
The win stretched Texas A&M’s SEC Tournament win streak to seven matches. It also marks the seventh consecutive season the Aggies have advanced to the semifinal round of a conference tournament.
Using a starting lineup that included eight players who are freshmen and sophomore and a pair of players making their first career start as Aggies, Texas A&M controlled the action for a majority of the match holding advantages in shots (19-7), shots-on-goal (10-1) and corner kicks (5-0).
Danielle Rice, who made 36 starts and recorded eight shutouts in two seasons at Creighton, made her first Aggie start in goal, logging one save to record the shutout. A backline of Ashlynn Harryman, Karlie Mueller, McKayla Paulson andKendall Ritchie and holding midfielder Stephanie Malherbe held the high octane Ole Miss offense to just one shot on goal and held Ole Miss’s leading scorer CeCe Kizer, who notched two goals against A&M in a 4-3 win 10 days ago, to just one shot on the afternoon.
Ally Watt‘s first five shots of the match were either snuffed out or wide of target, but the freshman found the net on her sixth attempt in the 75th minute. She possessed the ball on left flank, turned the corner passed Ole Miss’s outside back and raced to the left edge of the six-yard box, sweeping a shot past a flailing keeper to the right side netting for her sixth goal of the season.
Texas A&M added an insurance goal in the 81st minute with Emily Bates putting the dagger in from 19 yards. She sent missile past a diving keeper into the left side netting for her sixth goal of the season.
The 0-0 halftime score belied Texas A&M’s control of play in the first half. The Maroon and White owned edges in shots (9-1), shots-on-goal (5-0) and corner kicks (3-0), but were unable to put the biscuit in the basket.
The Aggies return to action Friday as they battle the LSU Tigers in a semifinal contest at 6 pm.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On beating a team the Aggies lost to 10 days ago…
“All year people have talked about the youth of this team. And every match a majority of our team was playing against a team for the first time. Today was the first time they were seeing a team for the second time and I think you can see how much they learned and improved. They played with more confidence because they knew what they were up against.”
On the confidence gained from advancing to the semifinal…
“Getting to the semifinal is a lot easier said than done. This is a really good Ole Miss team, so I think beating them is as important as advancing to the semifinal as far as confidence goes. We have 48 hours to regroup and get ready for what should be a tough semifinal against LSU.”
On the defense and Danielle Rice…
“I was really pleased by the performance of everybody on the backline and Stephanie (Malherbe) playing a holding midfielder for the first time this year. Kendall (Ritchie) was making just her second start was outstanding and the rest of the backline did a great job at marking and stomping out scoring opportunities, which is something we did have the last time we played. You can’t say enough about Dani get a shutout in her first career start in a team like Ole Miss who has put up outstanding offensive numbers all season. She really had a command of the defense and you could tell she was an experienced keeper with confidence.
Freshman forward Ally Watt
On staying patient after missing scoring opportunities in the first half…
“At halftime Phil (Stephenson) told us to fine tune some things. We were playing really well in the first half, but we were just a second too early or a second too late on some passes and some shots. He said if we stayed patient but stayed aggressive things would pay off.”
On her goal…
“It was great to finally get on the board. We felt like were outplaying them for the entire match, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you get on the scoreboard. Once it was in the goal, it was great to turn around and celebrate with all the girls, because the goal and the win was a team effort. We worked really hard to get the win.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics