COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Ally Watt matched a single-match school record with four goals as the No. 22 Texas A&M Aggies tamed the Missouri Tigers in 5-3 victory Sunday evening at Ellis Field.
Missouri struck early scoring in the third minute, but Watt & Co. answered back scoring the equalizer and go-ahead goal within the next 20 minutes. The Maroon & White ended the first half with a goal in the 44th minute and tacked on another five minutes into the second half. Watt’s fourth goal added insurance to outlast late efforts by the Tigers.
Watt leads the team with 14 goals and passes Jimena Lopez with a team-leading 34 points. It marked the second career hat trick for Watt who also scored four goals against Missouri in the 2017 SEC Tournament.
Addie McCain had a career-high three assists. Katie Smith, Asdis Holldorsdottir and Rheagen Smith all scored a goal.
The Maroon & White owned the shot advantage, 26-14, including a 12-7 edge in shots on goal.
Making her first career start, Kenna Caldwell tended goal the entire 90 minutes for the Aggies, registering five saves.
Texas A&M improved to 12-3-3 overall, 6-2-1 in the SEC. Missouri is now 7-9-1 overall and 2-9-1 in league action. The Aggies are 18-5-3 all-time against Missouri after completing the 26th meeting. Since both teams joined the SEC in 2012, the Aggies own a 5-0-2 edge.
GOAL SUMMARY
3′ – Missouri’s Sarah Luebbert sent the ball from the right corner of the six-yard box across to the left side of the goal. A&M 0, MIZ 1.
16′ – Smith launched rocket 50 yards downfield to McCain 12 yards out on the left. McCain dished it from the left to the middle finding Watt. Watt sent the ball through the left side of the goal from eight yards out. A&M 1, MIZ 1.
21′ – McCain booted the ball downfield to set up a racing Watt. From 15 yards out on the right, Watt launched a diagonal ball through the small window between the goalie and the right side goal post.
44′ – Rheagan Smith passed the ball from the left touch line to Tera Ziemer inside the penalty arc. Ziemer launched the ball in for the score. A&M 3, MIZ 1.
50′ – Halldorsdottir sent the corner kick from the left arc to Watt who put her head on it to float it in for the goal. A&M 4, MIZ 1.
56′ – Watt launched a diagonal rocket from outside the left outside the 18-yard box that bounced off the right corner of the goal post and in. A&M 5, MIZ 1.
61′ – Missouri’s Julissa Cisneros scored from the penalty spot. A&M 5, MIZ 2.
78′ – Luebbert had a shot blocked and then sprint to gather the carom and send a cross of the end line that bounced off of an Aggie defender and in for an own goal from six yards. A&M 5, MIZ 3.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M stays in Aggieland to spook Ole Miss on Halloween to conclude the regular season at Ellis Field Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free for kids in costumes.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach G Guerrieri
On the match…
“Ally Watt with six goals on the weekend is a pretty special week, and that’s how you want your seniors and your All-Americans playing at their best as we start to move through the end of the season. All these games against Mizzou are always kind of wild like this. I don’t think we’ve ever had a boring game with them. There’s always a lot of energy. Sarah Luebbert is a real handful. We knew she was going to be. It’s one thing when you know it, yet she goes out and is still able to beat you at it. Hats off to her and Bryan [Blitz] for the fight that they put up.”
Junior Midfielder Addie McCain
On team’s performance in owning the midfield…
“We outnumbered them and were able to play our game. Something we have wanted to do for a while now is pass the ball around more. Today proved we can do that, and it gave us the momentum we were looking for.”
Senior Forward Ally Watt
On her four-goal performance…
“There was something I liked about each goal. The header was fun, but I did like my left-footed one. It was great to see Addie [McCain] connect on balls up the middle and see her level of confidence get a boost. She has a brilliant outside flip pass and was able to feed them to me today, which are my favorite to be on the end of.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics