Late push not enough as No. 12 A&M suffers first SEC loss at Florida, 3-1

No. 12 ranked Texas A&M fell to the Florida Gators 3-1 in a Sunday afternoon match in Gainesville. The road matchup against the Gators marks the Aggies’ first conference loss of the season and snaps A&M’s five-game win streak.  

The Aggies, who fell to 9-2-2, have looked sharp in conference play so far this season, recording impressive wins against Mississippi State, Kentucky, and LSU. In their last five games, the Aggie offense has dominated, outscoring their opponents twenty to one. 

While the Aggies own the 8-6 advantage all-time over the Gators, both teams are consistently in the conversation for a conference title. A&M head coach G Guerrieri holds the number four spot on the list of winningest active coaches with four hundred and sixty-nine wins while Florida’s head coach Becky Burleigh occupies the number two spot, earned during her thirty years leading the squad. 

The Gators own one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, facing off with several top ten nonconference opponents as well as a tough SEC East conference field. Improving to 8-4 on the year with the win, Florida proved to be a tough opponent for the Aggies. 

The Aggie offense looked sluggish to start the day, struggling to find their groove. The Gators broke the ice in the seventh minute of the match when a penalty kick from junior forward Madison Alexander found the back of the net to put Florida up 1-0 early. 

With the momentum swinging in their favor, the Gators did not wait long to add to their lead.  In the seventeenth minute, midfielder Sammie Betters slid one between two Aggie defenders to a surging Vanessa Kara.  Kara faced off with Aggie keeper Shantel Hutton at the front of the box, ultimately beating Hutton to the ball and driving one through an empty net from twelve yards out. 

Down 2-0, the Aggies tried to breathe some life into a stagnant offensive front. In the twenty-first minute, Ásdís Halldórsdóttir managed to break through the Gators’ defense. With the ball on the backline, the Iceland native sent a powerful shot, but the ball glanced off a defender’s foot and found the right side of the net instead, leaving the Aggies scoreless. 

Florida’s four back-formation proved to be difficult for the Aggie offense to penetrate. The absence of Aggie’s leading point scorer, midfielder Jimena Lopez, exacerbated the issue for the Aggies who struggled to break through the Gator’s backline in the first half.

Returning from the break, the Aggies came out with a vengeance, playing aggressively on offense to start the half. In the five minutes of the second half, the Aggies unleashed a barrage of shots on the Gator defense.  While the attempts to get the Aggies on the board were blocked or fielded, the fast start to the half showed the Aggies were not ready to concede defeat.   

In a complete turnaround from only generating two shots in the first half, the Aggies kept the Gators on their toes with a staggering twelve shots on goal in the second period.

In the forty-eighth minute, forward Ally Watt outran a defender on a breakaway, unleashing a shot that went just high and right of its intended target. In the seventy-first minute, Watt tapped one to Ásdís Halldórsdóttir. Halldórsdóttir took the shot, but the Gator’s goalkeeper made a spectacular diving save to keep the Aggies off the board. 

Although they had a comfortable 2-0 lead, the Gators were not slowing down on offense. In the sixty-seventh minute, Sammie Betts sent a pass to a perfectly positioned Vanessa Kara just outside the six-yard box. Kara crossed one in the bottom left corner of the goal behind a diving Aggie keeper to put the Gators up 3-0 and earn a brace for herself on the day. The senior forward possesses incredible quickness and elusiveness and proved to be a problem for the Aggies on the defense throughout the match. 

In the seventy-fourth minute, the Aggies broke through for a score. Midfielder Addie McCain tapped one to Taylor Ziemer. Ziemer was elusive in her path to the box, crossing one defender up and making another miss as she slid one in behind the goalkeeper to put the Aggies on the board. 

The Aggie offense seemed to have found their stride, but it proved to be too late to mount a substantial comeback. The Aggies will be back in action when they face off with Alabama on Thursday at home at Ellis Field.