Where
are they now Featuring:
Seventh-Ranked Aggies
Offense Too Much for Resilient Hoosiers
Carly Samp and Orianica Velasquez scored the IU
goals
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Despite trailing by three
goals at the half, the Indiana Women’s Soccer team had
No. 7 Texas A&M on their heels for large portions of the
game, but it was the potent attack of the Aggies (5-1-0)
that handed the Hoosiers a 5-2 loss on Friday night at
Armstrong Stadium.
“Our performance tonight, against one of the strongest
teams in the country, was one of the best I have seen
since I have been here,” Indiana head coach Mick Lyon
said afterwards. “We competed and we battled and played
together very, very well and even at the end when we
were down three goals, we still had them on their heels
and were making them stop us.”
Indiana (3-3-0) got second half goals from Carly Samp,
her fourth, and Orianica Velasquez, her second, to trim
a 3-0 halftime deficit to 3-2 just seven minutes into
the second half. Texas A&M followed with a pair of
goals in the next 15 minutes to put the game out of
reach.
Much of the first half the teams took turns mounting
attacks at each goal and IU keeper Lauren Hollandsworth
was up to the task at the start, making five strong
saves to keep the game scoreless. But the Aggies found
the scoreboard in the 14th and 18th minutes to take a
2-0 lead. Then in the 26th minute a third goal, this
one coming just after a free kick, put the Aggies ahead
3-0.
The Hoosiers had a couple of very good looks in the
first half, led by a combination of shots by Samp and
Velasquez. Samp received a pass and was even with the
last defender in front of the keeper and fired a rocked
just inside the top of the box that was saved out to the
front left of the goal. Velasquez darted towards it and
looked to have an easy goal but the keeper was able to
dive in front of it and make a second save and keep the
Hoosiers off the board.
Coming out of the locker room after halftime, Indiana
continued its aggressive play and it resulted in their
first goal. Junor Margo McAuley made a deft pass to the
top left of the box to Velasquez, who spun and fired a
quick shot that caught the TAMU keeper off guard and she
made a diving save. The ball bounced right to Samp who
chipped it over the keeper for her team-leading fourth
goal of the season. For Velasquez, it was her team-best
third assist of the year.
Just five minutes later, Leigh Anne Cummings was pulled
down near the endline inside the box by the TAMU keeper,
drawing a yellow card on the keeper and earning a
penalty kick for the Hoosiers. Velasquez stepped up and
drilled it to the lower left side of the goal for her
third of the year and all of a sudden the lead was just
one goal for the Aggies.
“Although we didn’t get the result,” Lyon said, “we can
certainly look at our team and say, without question, we
have made huge strides forward in our play over the last
two games and that is what we are going to take from
this moving forward.
IU had a couple of other free kicks from just outside
the top of the box later in the second half and narrowly
came up empty. Sophomore Ciersten Burks took the first
one and hit the crossbar and was then cleared away by
the TAMU defense. Velasquez had another one just
minutes later and buzzed it by the right post as she
looked for her second goal of the game.
Texas A&M held a 26-13 advantage in shots while Indiana
made 13 saves to seven for the Aggies.
Indiana returns to Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium
for a Sunday matinee against Hofstra. The game will
start at 1:00 p.m. and fans can watch the action at
IUHoosiers.com as part of the All-Access package
(subscription required).
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