College Station, Texas - The University of Arizona Wildcat soccer team faced off against the No. 1 seed Texas A&M Aggies in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The match was held at Ellis Field in College Station, Texas in front of 2,212 fans. The Aggies ended the Wildcats' season, winning the match 7-2. Arizona finished the season with a record of 11-8-2 while Texas A&M advanced to the Sweet 16 with a record of 20-2-2.
"We ran into a really good team tonight,” head coach Tony Amato said. “They were firing on all cylinders and it felt like everything they shot in the first half went in. There are a lot of good players on that A&M team and I expect them to make a good run in this tournament. I thought we started well. We had a couple chances, didn't finish them, and once they got their goal they came after us. It was a long game."
Early in the match, junior Kaitlyn Lopez made a run up the center of the pitch and was tripped up from behind, drawing the foul call. Freshman Gabi Stoian lined up the set piece but it went right into the wall. On the ensuing throw-in, redshirt sophomore Lexe Selman found Stoian streaking up the left wing but her shot was saved out of bounds. Stoian's corner kick on the following play was cleared away.
The Aggies fired a couple blistering shots from distance at senior goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman early in the match as well but she was up to the task, standing tall for the first shot and diving to the right on the second shot.
About 10 minutes into the match, Stoian played a wonderful through ball to senior Alexandra Doller who had a breakaway on goal. Texas A&M's goalkeeper Jordan Day came off her line and made a quality save on Doller's shot at the edge of the 18-yard box.
At the 14:11 mark, Annie Kunz of the Aggies scored her seventh goal of the season. A&M had a set piece from midfield that got deflected right to Kunz on the left side of the box and she drilled it into the right corner of the goal. Moments later the Aggies had two more quality attempts but both shots were off target.
Kelley Monogue of Texas A&M pushed the lead to 2-0 at the 17:11 mark. The Aggies had a throw-in that took a high bounce over everybody and headed towards the goal. Kaufman came off her line to get it but Monogue chipped it in before she could reach it.
A&M made it 3-0 at the 19:08 when Monogue got a header on Leigh Edwards ball played into the box. Her header went back and into the right corner of the goal.
Texas A&M's fourth goal came off a deflection from junior Sheaffer Skadsen at the 31:57 mark. Allie Bailey's shot hit Skadsen as she stepped to the ball and Kaufman couldn't recover to save it after the unexpected ball movement.
Bailey made it 5-0 for the Aggies at the 42:41 mark of the first half. She had the ball on the left wing again and ripped it with her right foot into the upper right corner of the goal.
"I think they just started the game with the pedal to the floor. They scored and the crowd got into it, and they just started flying. If soccer had timeouts, I would've called one there to let our girls regroup. They just grabbed the momentum at that point and it was just too hard to overcome.
Arizona had nine shots in the first half and four were on target. The Wildcats committed five fouls and won one corner kick. The Aggies had 14 shots and eight were on target, Kaufman saved three. They committed four fouls and did not win any corner kicks.
Shea Groom scored the first goal of the second half at the 46:56 mark. She had the ball on the right wing and just fired it into the net.
Arizona pulled one back thanks to senior Alexandra Doller at the 50:06 mark. She connected on a flip-throw in from junior Jaden DeGracie and headed it back into the right corner of the net. It was Doller's eighth goal of the season and DeGracie's fourth assist. Doller is tied for the sixth-best total in school history for goals in a season at eight.
Texas A&M made it 7-1 at the 57:22 mark. The Aggies won a set piece and the ball was headed on and hit the post but it bounced right back to Bianca Brinson who kicked it right into the goal.
Junior Hayley Estopare scored her second goal of the season at the 64:29 mark of the match. The assist was given to Lopez after there was a battle for the loose ball in the box. Estopare finally got it and just tapped it in to the goal. The play was originally started with a set piece from Stoian.
Doller was assessed a yellow card at the 74:16 mark of the match. Glanz was issued a yellow card at the 77:11 mark.
At the end of the match, Arizona tallied 17 shots and eight were on target. The Wildcats committed 12 fouls and won three corner kicks. The Aggies tallied 24 shots and 15 were on target. They committed five fouls, won two corner kicks and were called offside twice.
It was a historic season for the Wildcats; their 11 wins are tied for the second-best total in school history. It is the second-straight winning season for Amato and his staff in their second year at Arizona. The 2014 squad is only the third team to make it to the NCAA Tournament in program history. Kaufman began the season tied for fourth place in school history with nine shutouts for her career. She has recorded seven this season, bringing her total to 16, the second-highest tally in UA history. Kaufman's seven shutouts on the season is the No. 3 mark in program history as well. Stoian is one of only six athletes in school history to record a hat trick in a match, the last coming in 2005, courtesy of Mallory Miller. Her 13 goals on the year are tied for the second-best mark in program history for goals in a season. She has tallied 33 points on the season, the second-best total in UA history. Stoian's seven assists this season rank as the third-best total in school history.
For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat soccer, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow @ArizonaWSoccer on Twitter.
