A&M Defeats t.u. for Third Straight Year

By Austin Wall

Photo by:Greg Kettler

Will James

Austin, TX -- The Aggies headed into the highly anticipated Friday night match-up with the Texas Longhorns ready to take down the Horns for the third consecutive year. These two teams have been on a collision course since league play started in January. The outcome of this game determined who would receive a first round bye in the LSA south playoffs and head straight to the LSA final four in Texas Stadium on May 2nd.

The Aggies came out strong, scoring three goals in the first ten minutes of play, two of which were by midfielder Chris Deeke and the other by midfielder James Mansfield. With 2:57 left in the first quarter Texas was able to get on the scoreboard with a goal from Evan Swann. The first quarter ended with both teams tallying a goal apiece (William Kettler for A&M and Alex Kroviak of Texas) before the period expired. The game headed into the second with a score of 4-2.

The Second quarter began slowly with the ball moving up and down the field several times before Aggie LSM Will Simmons put a bounce shot past the Texas goalie on a fast break situation for his first goal of the season. The Longhorns, however, refused to go down without a fight were posted three goals going into halftime (Paul McCloud, Evan Swann, and William Forrest) to settle the game at 5-5.

The third quarter was a defensive struggle. Both teams battled to gain the momentum. An A&M goal by Austin Wall on a man-up situation at the 11:08 mark gave the Aggies a slight edge until Aggie midfielder Chris Deeke put one past the goaltender on an assist from Steve Bouchard at the 1:36 mark. William Kettler added another from Andrew Bachinskas off of a botched clearing attempt by Texas to round out the third.

The momentum gained at the end of the third transferred to the fourth quarter for the Aggies. They were able to tally the first three goals of the quarter, two by Andrew Bachinskas and one by William Kettler. With 6:20 left in the game the Aggies led 11-5. Despite their six goal deficit Texas refused to be put away. Two quick goals by Charlie Frasier and Evan Swann tightened the game to 11-7. A&M’s Will James added one with 2:12 left to sink the hopes of the Longhorns. However, the Horns still believed that a comeback was possible and was able to pump in two more goals by Alex Kroviak and Dennis Chang as the clock wound down. The score was 12-9 with 1:22 left and a possible comeback was still at hand. The Aggies were able to win possession on the crucial face-off and muster enough composure to bleed the clock to a point where a comeback was impossible. When the final seconds ticked away and the dust in Austin, Texas settled, the Aggies were standing as the victors of this years Lonestar Showdown with high hopes of making a run on the national stage.