A&M defeats Penn State for first-ever College Cup berth

Whatever label you want to place on this Texas A&M soccer team, it deserves it and more after defeating Penn State 2-1 in the Elite Eight.

Call the Aggies tough. Special. Talented. Even inspirational.

With the opportunity to achieve success this program has never seen before, the Aggies came out and fought Penn State for 90 minutes in front of 3,000-plus screaming fans. On the other side of that hour and a half was a trip to the College Cup.

Riding on the shoulders of keeper Jordan Day, Allie Bailey and a whole team of gritty gals, A&M got there.

The atmosphere itself created intensity from the get-go — intensity that got taken to another level in the fifth minute when Annie Kunz made a quick pass inside to a sliding Bailey, who was able to get a foot on it and past a diving goalkeeper just in time.

An emotional Coach G Guerrieri was extremely grateful to the Saturday night crowd, saying, “The 12th Man is second to none. People came out who really worship these kids and that is such a huge part of what makes this team successful, the relationship we have with this town and the students.”

After the excitement from a 1-0 lead died down, Day brought it back in the 17th minute with a 1-on-1 stop that preserved A&M’s narrow lead. Day touched on her mindset as Penn State was coming at her: “Coach G told me, 'If they ever have a breakaway, don’t guess, just be big.' I didn’t dive and just tried to get as big as possible.”

It worked.

Penn State later tied it up at one with a bullet from the right corner of the penalty box, but it wasn’t tied for long.

In the 57th minute, Penn State was unable to get a handle near the goal and Bailey took advantage by shooing one in for the game-winning score. The senior said of how much effort it took to finish off her two goals, “Having skill is great — but in games like this it is about putting in 100 percent effort. I just made sure I did everything I could.”

The Aggies were able to withstand constant pressure from the opposition for the remainder of the half and then, alongside the 12th Man, celebrated.

Guerrieri gave his thoughts on this teams accomplishments after the game.

“Even though we gave up a lead, this team continued to attack and play," he said. "This is getting over a big hump. We’ve had lots of teams that I thought were good enough to play in the College Cup but never did. They always went on the road this round, and I think that shows how big playing in front of a standing-room-only crowd, at home, really is.”

Allie Bailey summed up the team’s mindset moving forward: “This is very exciting — to be going to the Final Four — but we are not satisfied with just going. We want a national championship.”

The only thing standing between the Aggies and the championship game now is Virginia.

“Beating UCLA is quite an accomplishment," Guerrieri said of the Cavaliers. "UVA are an unbelievably talented and poised team. Ironically, one of their many star players' father runs the airport here, so I’ve got to make sure the flights are going to get out this week.”

That might be the only thing that can stop this team as it heads to its first College Cup in program history with a semifinal game slated for December 5th.