Aggies rebound with convincing 4-0 victory over Ole Miss at Ellis Field
On the Turn It Gold night at Ellis Field in College Station, the Texas A&M soccer team was golden en route to a 4-0 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels on Friday evening.
“Well, Turn It Gold is a special thing for these girls,” Texas A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “The girls chipped in money out of their own pockets to help out with the event.”
The Aggies ended the game landing 11 of their 26 shots on target, leaving the Rebels with five shots and only one put on frame.
Sydney Becerra, who led the Aggies with multiple points, and MaKhiya McDonald teamed up and paced A&M with five shots each.
Sammy Smith set up Becerra for the Aggies' first goal in the 35th minute. After Smith laid a pass off to Becerra, she squeezed a shot between Ole Miss’ goalkeeper Addie Yelton and the left post to make it 1-0.
“It was great,” Becerra said. “It was good to get the first goal on the board, and I think it set us up for a pretty good game. I mean, 4-0 is not bad.”
Not bad at all. Becerra wasn’t done, either.
She then streaked down the middle and dumped a pass off to Andersen Williams for the Aggies’ second goal in the 40th minute. After a Rebels’ defender attempted to slide tackle Williams near the goal, she dodged the aggressive attack and struck the ball low and in to make it 2-0.
“I saw her running, just took a chance, and she finished,” Becerra said.
On a corner serviced by Smith in the 55th minute, Maile Hayes headed the ball down before it was fired away from harm by the Ole Miss defense. That was until Macy Matula found the ball for the Aggies and was in the right place at the right time to poke it into the net and make it 3-0.
“It’s crazy, you know you don’t think you're going to score when you’re on the backline, so it was good getting a goal,” Matula said.
Putting the ball between Yelton and the right post, McDonald made it 4-0 in the 69th minute. The play was set up by Mia Pante, who took on two defenders before dishing the ball over to Carissa Boeckmann, who then found McDonald for the fourth and final score.
Up next, the Aggies hit the road to take on Vanderbilt (6-3-3, 1-3 SEC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT in Nashville.
“They're a great team,” Guerrieri said, acknowledging Vanderbilt. “They play well. We like the way they play. It should be a really attractive game. Both teams really try to put the ball down and make it attractive for the fans. So for the casual fan, it’s one to circle.”