No. 12 Aggies Enrage the Cajuns with 2-0 Result

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 12 Texas A&M soccer celebrated its annual Turn it Gold match with a successful 2-0 outing against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday night at Ellis Field. A&M came away with a victory in the first all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Aggies climbing to 9-3-0 overall while the Cajuns fall to 10-8-1.

After a stellar two-way performance, the Aggies owned the margins in every major statistical category including shots (21-2), corner kicks (5-0) and shots on goal (10-0). Laney Carroll recorded her third goal of the season and has now recorded eight points this season, while Taylor Ziemer logged her second goal of the year. Macie Kolb booked her first assist of the 2020-21 campaign on Ziemer’s goal in the first half.

The first 15 minutes of the match passed without incident, as the Aggies put two shots on goal but came up empty on both attempts. A&M’s team defense dominated the opening stanza, prohibiting the Ragin’ Cajuns from attempting a shot. With the match deadlocked, Ziemer broke the ice by battling past the goalkeeper on a perfectly placed pass by Kolb to take a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute.

Texas A&M’s defensive dominance continued through the remainder of the match, as the Aggies held Louisiana to a mere two shots overall, both coming in the second half. In the 59th minute, Izzy Wheeler fouled Carroll inside the box and received a yellow card, granting Carroll an opportunity to convert on a penalty kick to finalize the 2-0 score.

In the net for the Aggies, Kenna Caldwell played all 90 minutes and cemented her fourth shutout game of the year due in large part to an excellent all-around defensive performance by the Maroon & White back line. For Louisiana, Lauryn Starwood manned the net for the entire game and recorded eight saves with two goals allowed.

Texas A&M soccer also took Saturday’s match as an opportunity to share the Aggie Spirit and the A&M core value of Selfless Service while honoring its annual commitment to kick childhood cancer. The Turn it Gold match featured merchandising efforts and t-shirt sales, with all proceeds going to help raise awareness and support research in the battle against pediatric cancer. To donate and learn more, click here.

SCORING SUMMARY

44′ – Ziemer received a pass from Kolb and proceeded to spin to the right, carefully placing a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal just past the keeper’s glove. A&M 1, UL 0

59′ – Following a yellow card on Wheeler in the box, Carroll converted on her penalty kick and added to the Aggie lead. A&M 2, UL 0

UP NEXT

The No. 12 Maroon & White remain at Ellis Field this week, as the Aggies welcome the Texas State Bobcats on Saturday, March 27, with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Texas A&M Head Coach G Guerrieri

On coming out tonight after a loss on the road…

“The frustrating thing for that game at Rice was we had a lot of players who played really well. We let Rice off the hook, and we should have won that game. It was our first loss to a team in Texas in 12 years. I wish we could take a mulligan on it, but we can’t, I thought the team responded really well. We had great training sessions this week and I thought that we clicked pretty well tonight. There is still that last pass that we’ve got to be able to make to really stick the dagger in the heart. We got half of our shots on goal tonight, whereas we only had maybe a third of our shots on goal. It is a young team, we started five freshman, three sophomores. So, it is a very young team. I am really pleased with how they are progressing.

On the team’s dominance tonight…

“I don’t think they got their first shot until about the 78 minutes. I think you can track a lot of that up to the way that our team spends and impacts. We don’t isolate ourselves, that allows us to keep numbers on the ball. We can’t look up. As much as anything I thought that Kendall Bates was outstanding in the middle of the field as far as the way that she was shepherding the ball around. Taylor’s Ziemer was also outstanding and you look at the third of our central midfield which was Taylor Pounds and she was everywhere. So, I think you can look first at those three, and how they were able to play not just athletically, but just in the way that they were able to keep possession and make Louisiana have to play all night.”

Senior Midfielder Taylor Ziemer

On raising money for Childhood Cancer…

“It is basically the most important night of our season. It means so much to go out there and to play to raise money and raise awareness for childhood cancer. I mean it is hard to find a better cause.”