The Battalion
Sports
Page 9 • Thursday, November 11,1999
occer team wins first-round game against Montana
irdo Cacho tomij
ot aware of any
1 he had noi
veen the crew
flight, the airline
passengers
lliesday night, cn”
where airline offi
) dating backtotl
avocado prodt
e when visitingtt
he west.
JR BEATO/Thk Battalion
A&M freshman forward Heather Ragsdale heads a corner kick into the net Wednesday night in the
'Aggies’ 2-1 victory over the University of Montana at the Aggie Soccer Complex.
BY REECE FLOOD
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Soccer Team ex
tended its season by at least one more
game Wednesday night by defeating the
University of Montana in the first round
of the 1999 NCAA Division I Women’s
Soccer Championships at the Aggie
Soccer Complex.
The Aggies came back from a one-
point deficit to earn a 2-1 victory over
the Grizzlies. A&M advances to the sec
ond round, where it will face the Uni
versity of Kentucky Sunday at 1 p.m. in
Lexington, Ky.
In a hard-fought first half featuring
13 A&M shots and only four Montana
shots, forward Heidi Melville scored a
goal late in the first half to give Montana
a 1-0 halftime lead.
A&M soccer coach G. Guerrieri said the
team took the first half as a wake-up call.
“The biggest thing that we had to
overcome was the emotion of, ‘Oh my
God, we’ve been outplaying a team and
they scored and are we going to lose in
the first round,”’ he said. “I think that
scare went through the team a little bit.”
After being startled in the first half,
A&M came out firing on all cylinders in
the second.
Slightly more than two minutes into
the second half, freshman forward
Heather Ragsdale headed a corner kick
from junior forward Nicky Thrasher into
the back of the net to tie the game, 1-1.
Almost 20 minutes later, freshman
midfielder Andrea Starns hit a shot off
the left pole and into the net from 20
yards out to give the Aggies a game
winning one-point lead.
“Honestly, 1 didn’t really see the
ball go in,” Starns said. “As soon as I
hit it, I knew it was on, and I knew
that if the goalie didn’t make a play
on it that it was going in. That’s the
best goal I’ve ever scored.”
Guerrieri said he was not surprised that
two freshmen stepped up to score the two
goals that gave the Aggies the victory, be
cause he expects his freshmen to play at
the same level as the rest of the team.
“The evolution of this program is
that players are coming in as freshmen
and are pressing everyone to get bet
ter,” he said. “By the time we got to
October, we had no more freshmen.
We had some seasoned college soccer
players.”
The Aggie offense pressured the
Montana defense all night, totaling 24
shots in the game. Meanwhile, A&M
presented a stifling defense that al
lowed Montana only six shots the en
tire game.
Senior goalkeeper Melanie Wilson
made four big saves to secure the vic
tory for the Aggies.
A&M was supported by a rowdy
crowd of 504 and an Aggie bench that
stayed on its feet the entire game.
stiniaiNo. 15 Ags down Bears in 5 games
ontrol
itan/
ontrot
lian
Tulkarem
:l to
n to
nans
I Aviv*
ISRAEL
BY BLAINE DIONNE
. The Battalion
/ H After falling behind, 2-0, to one of
tie top defensive teams in the Big 12,
the Baylor University Bears, the Texas
* A&M Volleyball Team rallied for three
• straight wins to take the crucial
WesiBr match,13-15,11-15, 16-14, 15-9, 15-9,
in front of 996 raucous fans at G. Rol-
lie White Coliseum Wednesday night,
p With the win, the Aggies (20-5, 11-
0 4. Big 12) were able to maintain the
* only undefeated home record in the
jewiaiMi gjg |2 this season,
fmtr, . The victory did not come easily, re-
, quiring several stellar performances
from A&M players. Senior middle
HavatMaon b] 0 cker Amber Woolsey tied her ca-
■fter high for assists with 11, moving
her into No. 2 on the Aggies’ all-time
list. Woolsey also had a career night
in kills with 28, leading the team.
Senior middle blocker Lauri Leahy
also tied a career kill high with 16,
and junior outside hitter Christy Clark
set career highs in service aces with 3
and digs with 18.
While getting an all-around effort
from her team pleased A&M volley
ball coach Laurie Corbelli, she said
the way her team performed in the
first two games did not.
“We just weren’t sharp early,” Cor
belli said. “We thought we were, but
Baylor was testing us early and we
had to really work to get some mo
mentum going.”
That momentum was a rare com
modity in the first two games for the
Aggies, who were frustrated early and
often by Baylor’s defensive prowess.
Woolsey said despite Baylor’s
strong defense, the Aggies were the
only ones who could prevent them
selves from winning, not the Bears.
“There was a momentum shift af
ter we lost that first game,” Woolsey
said. “They came out strong in game
two, and we knew that it was our side
of the court that needed to change in
game three.
“We knew we had nothing to lose,
and 1 think everyone stepped up their
intensity on the court.”
The Aggies got that momentum by
matching their opponent’s intensity
and going back to what has been their
bread and butter all season long —
defense.
“1 think defense is a big key for
us,” Woolsey said. “I think that when
we have good defensive skills, we
have more options on offense.”
Sophomore outside hitter Michelle
Cole also credited the strong defense.
“When our blocking got more sol
id, it made it easier to read behind the
block,” Cole said. “When you know
where the block is, you know where
you have to be on defense, and that
makes it a lot easier to get balls up for
our middles to put down.”
The Aggies will take on Oklahoma
Saturday at 7 p.m. in Norman, Okla.
JP BEATO/Thk Battalion
A&M senior outside hitter Celia Howes digs a ball Wednesday night in the Aggies’ five-game victory
over Baylor University at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
How to ruin the moment #4A
“I’D LOVE TO TRY FINDING
YOUR TATTOO,
BUT I’M GOING BACK
TO MY ROOM
TO CHECK MY EMAIL”
myTalk.com
Listen and respond to your email over any phone - FREE-
Sign up today at myTalk-com
Earn extra cash as an on-campus myTalk rep. Contact our
campus recruiter at campusreps@myTalk.com for details.
F0UND ITIYSELF
©N A |©URNEY.
I WAS GIVEN mANY
m
RCED
DECISI
. W -» A IhhnM*m(
WHAT D
©URNEY IS
THIS
fflY LIFE.
|©)N US AS WE EXPERIENCE ILEAL LIFE: REAL RELATI0NSHIPS WITH
REAL PESPLE...A REAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A REAL G0D.
Thurs @ 7pm msc 12th Man cafeteria
Cru Coffeehouse
Check out our website at cru,tamu.edu
spMMid b (mpm Cnnaw for CMs!