What a bad performance to follow up that #2 ranking.

First 10 games: 2 goals conceded
Tonight: 3 goals conceded

Pitiful effort by the Aggies. Pitiful! Arkansas hustled to every lose ball while the Aggies waited for the ball to come to them. Too many Aggie players bought tickets to the game. Such a disappointment.

That sucked.

This is not a #2 Team without Phil and Lori. No possession. Long balls to nowhere. And no adjustments. We have a great Team Manager on the sideline, we just are missing not only the Coach but the team heart. This is only a game. Our family lost a love one.

Well wishes to Phil, Lori and family.

Well, I'm not sure where to start after truly one of the worst performances I've seen an A&M team play in years relative to their own talent level and the level of their opponent. But first I want to give condolences to Phil and Lori who were not at the game tonight due to death in the family. Their presence was greatly missed as those of us who have followed the program for a long time know that Phil is actually the gameday coach and makes most of the adjustments during games, including a lot of the substitutions (which were bizarre tonight by Coach G). But the lack of effort and complete mental breakdowns on the backline tell me that this team was not prepared to play tonight, probably a combination of Phil's absence and heavy hearts, and then also some poor game planning and lack of adjustments. Coach G looked completely out of sorts on the sideline, which was pretty disheartening. Coach Hale coached circles around G tonight with a completely overmatched roster. I think it's time to admit that Phil is really the de facto coach of this team.

Arkansas is not a good team, period. They are an average team with average talent at best, and yet they outplayed A&M with only one player (Goins) that would even play significant minutes at A&M. And ironically Goins was hurt early in the 2nd half and didn't return, meaning the Razorbacks had almost nothing left offensively and yet managed to score 2 more goals and probably should have scored a third as well. Arkansas played their usual physical style with A&M by disrupting any early rhythm and forcing us to just play kickball and run onto the ball hoping to connect with long passes to nowhere. They won most of the 50/50 balls in the 1st half and limited any real chances on goal except for the free kick that was scored by Ritchie. A&M played better at times in the 2nd half with some possession and build-up, but the game got away from us when Lopez missed an easy tap in goal by blasting the ball over the crossbar from 7 yards out which would have given us a 2-1 lead and control of the match. And once the Razorbacks had a 3-1 lead it was pretty much over at that point, although the goal by Asdis on yet another free kick suddenly energized the team for the last 7 minutes. Where was that energy at the beginning of the match?

But the story of the night was the utter pathetic play of the backline (and one midfielder) in marking Arkansas players in the box. The first goal actually had two blown assignments the first by Hill who allowed her player to run behind her to receive a pass and then by Ritchie, who didn't even bother to look behind her to mark the player that scored on the cross. That was just embarrassing bad play there. The second goal was just a lazy attempt at a clearance from Alston with a bunch of players in the box off a long-rebounded shot that went right to an Arkansas player who slotted it home past Morche. During that sequence there was no sense of urgency to clear the ball from anyone in a maroon jersey; just a total lack of effort. The third goal was probably the worst because Arrieta allowed her opponent to run past her with no effort and she was half-jogging to pursue her to get in position in front of goal to collect a cross and slide it past Morche again. That lack of hustle would earn her the bench for a few games if I was the coach. There were several other mistakes in marking that left Arkansas players open for shots on goal that we barely escaped. The lack of awareness and smart play from the back 3 for most of this game was non-existent. It's truly hard to believe A&M could give up 3 goals (and should have been more like 5) to a poor offense that was depleted after only giving up 2 goals in the first 10 matches. While the 3-back set has worked up to this point in the season, I wonder if moving to a more defensive alignment on the road might help this group mentally when they are under pressure. That was just miserable play tonight. Even Morche looked shaky and uncertain what was happening in front of her.

The midfield wasn't much better, although Asdis tried to gain some poise for the team by controlling the ball and slowing down the frenetic passes to nowhere. McCain was up and down, making some nice plays at times (tackling) but then seemed disinterested and did a lot of ball watching as well. Bates was a complete non-factor outside a few runs late in the game that resulted in nothing. Bates has been struggling since her leg injury and just isn't the same player. A&M isn't going to go far this year without her getting back to playing well and being a factor at all times. I thought Piper really struggled with her touch tonight and surprisingly didn't react well to the physical play around her. She was on the bench for long stretches of the 2nd half due to injury I believe, which is not coincidentally when Arkansas scored those 2 goals. Only Zeimer played well for the most part with consistent touches and passes forward that were accurate. This group has to respond when a team challenges them in the middle of the field to gain possession and dictate a match. Arkansas punched them in the mouth and they backed down, which allowed the Razorbacks to play their style and eventually win the match.

The forwards really struggled to find their shots, especially Smith who just can't seem to keep the ball without either tripping over it or kicking it away from herself. I've been advocating for Abby Grace Cooper to get more minutes instead of Smith because she is better on the ball with touch and has a better shot as well. It's time to give her a chance with some extended action. Watt is another player that is suddenly in a funk over the last 3 matches or so. She is not trusting her speed to run past defenders or take them on without passing the ball off to teammates that are in worse positions to do anything with the ball. We need her to be aggressive and run at goal; don't worry about having it taken away because eventually she is going to get through at least once for a 1v1 opportunity. She also needs to start taking more shots from just outside the box because she has an accurate strong leg. I would normally put Asdis up top, but she is needed in the midfield at times like tonight.

A&M had not lost a game since its first SEC road match last year at Auburn when we dominated the match but lost 1-0. Tonight was different. A&M was unprepared and showed no signs of life until it was too late. I don't want to overreact after one tough loss to an inferior opponent, but these type of losses can cost you the SEC title, which we witnessed last year. There is no excuse to lose this game. You absolutely must find a way to earn at least a tie in games like this. Tonight was exactly what I feared before the season with a non-conference schedule that didn't challenge the team on the road to be prepared for a game like this in SEC play. This team will have to get much more motivated and mentally into a match to win any of its remaining games on the road.

Big picture-wise this loss ended any talk of a #1 ranking or #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. A tremendous opportunity blown up that quickly. A&M dropped to #7 in the RPI and now must try and battle back to get into contention for a #2 seed. But to be fair, it's possible we all got a bit carried away with how good this team is mainly because of a favorable schedule and some tremendous play against Santa Clara (does anyone think that A&M team would have lost to Arkansas?). We are still learning in the middle of the field and looking to find the right chemistry when you need it most. I've followed A&M soccer for a long time and this was one of most disappointing losses I can remember because of the opponent and what was at stake with an opportunity to have a historic season. The schedule is still in our favor to win the SEC, but there cannot be any more AWOL performances like tonight going forward. All most of us ask is maximum effort and concentration when you are representing A&M on the field. The team didn't look like it even wanted to play tonight and the result was predictable.

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I followed A&M soccer for a long time and this was one of most disappointing losses I can remember because of the opponent and what was at stake with an opportunity to have a historic season.

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Same here. I don't know if I just let my expectations get too high, but watching the girls tonight had to have been one of the most frustrating times watching them play. Its up there with the Purdue fish camp game that we lost like 3-nil in 2008 or 2009