Texas A&M loses grip of early lead as LSU forces third draw of the season
The fight to shift this season’s narrative continues.
Texas A&M and LSU played to a hard-fought 2-2 draw on Thursday evening at Ellis Field.
“There were parts of the game that we were really, really good,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “It was an entertaining game, it’s two teams that wanted to play, and LSU has done a great job all season long.
“They battled back, and we helped them battle back by having a bit of a brain fart on the first goal and a gift on the second one. Got to give LSU credit. I mean, LSU played hard and were able to come from a 2-0 deficit. We don’t give up many of those.”
Sophomore forward Maile Hayes wasted no time getting the Aggies (6-5-3, 0-4-1) on the board in the 7th minute of the match. Hayes struck the ball into the back of the net on a side-foot pass from sophomore midfielder Sydney Becerra.
“It felt nice. We’ve been on a dry spell with scoring,” Hayes said. “Our last two-goal game was our first SEC game against Georgia, and these were quality goals which definitely adds some confidence.”
Capitalizing on the momentum was Becerra, who swiftly shifted around a defender at the top of the box to send a shot set up by sophomore midfielder Carissa Boeckmann into the top left corner of the goal in the 15th minute.
“I had a feeling it was going in,” Becerra said. “It was nice to finally score. It’s been a while.”
The Aggies applied pressure to the Tigers from every angle with back-to-back defensive stops by sophomore midfielder Quinn Cornog and senior goalkeeper Kenna Caldwell in the 11th and 13th minutes, respectively.
Caldwell continued to come up with major stops, collecting six saves total.
In the 26th minute, LSU fired back with a goal from senior forward Rammie Noel to shave the deficit to 2-1.
Out of the break, Cornog committed a foul in the box that set the Tigers up for a penalty kick that led to an easy-scored goal in the 48th minute by Ida Hermannsdottir. The mistake ultimately led to the tie and prevented the Aggies from coming up with their first win in conference play.
“When we are up two goals, it should be set in stone that the other team is not coming back,” Hayes said. “It needs to be a slap to their face, and they need to have an amazing performance if they are going to come back.”
The Aggies had a chance to edge the Tigers out in the 69th minute when a goal was scored off of a free kick, but an offsides call disqualified the goal.
Despite the tie, Guerrieri hopes tonight’s effort can be built upon going forward as Texas A&M scored multiple goals for the first time in five games.
“It’s a positive step for us,'' Guerrieri said. “We'll build upon it, and we’ll put our shoes back on Sunday and go play against a completely different type of team at Ole Miss.”
The Maroon & White head back on the road to take on Ole Miss this Sunday. Kick-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.