Sooners Drop Heartbreaker At Texas A&M

NORMAN, Okla. The University of Oklahoma soccer team dropped a hard-fought contest at No. 9/13 (NSCAA/Soccer Buzz) Texas A&M, 2-1, on Sunday in front of 2,100 fans at the Aggie Soccer Complex in College Station, Texas. OU held a one-goal lead after sophomore Savannah Scott's fourth goal of the season in the 70th minute on an unassisted tally. However, Texas A&M's constant pressure broke down the OU defense with two goals in the final five minutes of the contest for the victory.

“Obviously this is a disappointing loss,” said Oklahoma head coach Randy Evans. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game, and we wore down in the last five minutes and let them get off some shots to win the game. When we had 11 versus 11 on the field, we were able to take control of the game but eventually we wore down.”

Box score

The Sooners' freshman goalkeeper, Jennifer Nichols, had an outstanding game for the second straight contest, recording eight saves. Nichols stepped up in her second collegiate start, stopping a high-powered Aggie offense that had outscored its previous opponents, 40-12.

“Jennifer had a great game,” commented Evans. “They had a couple opportunities to score when our defense broke down due to fatigue and she made some great saves to keep us in it and put us in a position to win the game. Savannah Scott also had a tremendous game, scoring a great goal after beating three defenders.”

The Sooners battled hard in the latter minutes of the first session to control a majority of the half and even the shot count at six apiece at halftime. With 10-plus minutes remaining in the first half, OU found itself without junior Jenny Jones, who received a red card in the Texas A&M box on an OU corner. Despite the loss of Jones, the Sooners held their 10th opponent of the season scoreless in the first 45 minutes of action.

The red card forced the Sooners to finish the contest with one less player than Texas A&M, but OU still managed to get on the board first. Scott put the Sooners on top in the 70th minute on an unassisted blast that beat the Aggies' Kati Jo Spisak. The goal ended the Aggies' streak of four consecutive shutouts. Texas A&M defeated Oklahoma State two days prior, 3-0, and held five of its last six opponents scoreless until Sunday.

The OU defense, with 10 players on the field, were able to hold the Aggies scoreless for the next 15 minutes but Texas A&M eventually broke through, ending Nichols' bid for her first career shutout. The Aggies tied the game with 4:30 remaining when the ball deflected in the goal off the far post on Paige Carmichael's shot from 25 yards out. The Aggies then ended the contest, scoring their second goal in two minutes, when Laura Probst netted the game-winner with 3:17 remaining on a deflection that was initiated from an Aggie corner kick.

Scott had four of OU's eight shots to lead the Sooners. The Aggies recorded 25 shots in the 90 minutes of action. Texas A&M also held the lead in the corner kick category, 11-6.

The Sooners have now lost three consecutive contests and fell to 4-4-3 overall and 0-3-0 in the Big 12 while the Aggies improved to 9-3-0 overall and 4-0 in conference play. With Sunday's heartbreaking loss, the Sooners are without a win in 10 all-time meetings with the Aggies, including five games decided by one goal.

“This was a tough loss, but we are thrilled with our level of play," added Evans. "We proved over this weekend that we can play with, and could have beat, two of the best teams (Texas and Texas A&M) in the conference. Now we have put ourselves against the wall and created some must-win situations for our team next weekend.”

The Sooners will look to bounce back and fight for their first Big 12 win next week, on the road, with a Friday contest against Baylor at 7 p.m. OU will play Texas Tech in Lubbock on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Sooners Drop Heartbreaker At Texas A&M

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Sooners Drop Heartbreaker At Texas A&M

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