TALLAHASSEE, Florida – The No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies played on an even keel with No. 1 Florida State for the first 88:31 of the match before the Seminoles broke the ice with an 89th minute goal in the season opener.
Florida State’s Clara Robbins ripped a shot from 12 yards out. Kenna Caldwell made a save, her sixth of the match, but the carom rolled back to Robbins who put the follow-up into the net with 1:28 left in the second half alf.
The first half was a meatgrinder with both defenses locking it down. Florida State held the advantages in shots (4-1), shots-on-goal (1-0) and corner kicks (4-0).
The best scoring opportunity of the first half belonged to the Aggies. In the 13th minute, Maile Hayes broke lose down the right touchline and entered the penalty box at the right corner. She sent a pass along the top of the box to Makhiya McDonald. Two yards right of the penalty spot, McDonald sent in a low driven ball that hit the flailing elbow of a sliding defender Gabby Carle.
Florida State ramped up the pressure in the second half and for the match they held advantages in shots (14-2), shots-on-goal (7-0) and corner kicks (6-0). The crossbar made two stops on the Seminoles in the second half, along with Caldwell’s four blocks.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return to action Sunday when they travel to Fort Worth for a 7 p.m. match against the No. 8 TCU Horned Frogs.
SCORING SUMMARY
FSU 89′ – Clara Robbins strokes a shot from 12 yards out. Kenna Caldwell makes a save, but the carom rolls back out to Robbins who puts the follow-up into the net. 1-0 FSU.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On the match…
“Man, I’m really proud of these Aggie players! I feel for them, because it’s tough to give up a goal in the 89th minute when you’ve battled the No. 1 team in the land so hard and so well.
Florida State is a legit national championship trophy contender, if not the downright favorites. Mark (Krikorian) has done a wonderful job of assembling and developing that incredible collection of players.
FSU is probably the most patient college team in possession that I’ve seen at the college level. So, the fact that our young team was able to keep our focus the entire match and carve out a few scoring chances ourself is definitely something we will build upon this season.
I thought Katie Smith was fantastic tonight on our backline. We had a number of players who put in outstanding performances, but Katie was just incredible, as was Kenna Caldwell in goal.”
On heading out of Tallahassee…
“We now have to quickly recover physically from this battle, return to Texas and get regrouped for another road game against another Top 10 opponent on Sunday (No. 8 TCU).”