Season Back On Track

By Austin Wall

Photo by:Frank Boyd

Chris Deeke

College Station, TX (March 20&22, 2008) -- Looking towards the final stretch of the season, the Aggies see many opportunities and challenges that will strengthen them and help build momentum into a national tournament run. The first of these challenges came in the form of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Wildcats of Chico State. Both are strong out of conference oppoonents that were looking for victories on their trips to Texas.

Thursday Night saw the Aggies facing Minnesota in a short-notice game that presented itself less than 24 hours before it was played. Texas A&M opened up the game with a 4-0 first quarter. After that, A&M was able to relax a little and cruise to an easy win of 15-9. This was a good win for the Aggies who were still reeling from the Missouri trip. It allowed the team to collect itself and rediscover rhythm. Also, A&M was able to reach into its bench and evenly distribute playing time among young players in need of game experience.

On Saturday afternoon, the team invited Chico State to Aggieland who was soaring high after a last-second win over the University Of Texas two nights previous. The game started off with A&M in a man-down situation due to field infractions. The defense was able to hold the Wildcats off and the game continued very slowly during the first quarter with the only goal coming from A&M midfielder Chris Deeke. The offense picked up slightly in the second quarter, with A&M putting three goals past the Chico State goalie. The Aggie defense remained stiff, only allowing one goal during the first half. The second half saw much of the same slow play, with Chico State’s west coast style of offense succeeding in keeping the ball away from the potent A&M attack unit. A&M was able to score five goals in the second half, while only allowing three against, securing a 9-4 victory.

These two much needed out of conference wins for the Aggies set the tone for the remainder of the season. The next stop for A&M is a double header weekend against Texas State and Tulane where the Aggies expect to notch another two tallies in the win column.