On Sunday evening in College Station, Texas, the WSU women’s soccer team (2-0) triumphed over both triple-digit temperatures and the Texas A&M Aggies, securing a 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
So far this season, the Cougs are no strangers to falling behind early in the game. In the 14th minute, the Aggies’ Carissa Boeckmann found Makhiya McDonald for the game’s opening goal. Boeckmann pounced on a heavy touch from a WSU defender, found herself with space on the right side of the Coug’s penalty box, and played it across for McDonald to tap in from the corner of the 6-yard box.
Less than 10 minutes later, WSU freshman Naomi Clark took advantage of the TAMU defense’s misplayed ball out in the back, taking a few touches into the opponent box before calmly slotting the equalizing goal past the goalie at the near post. This was Clark’s second goal in as many games, and she became the first Cougar freshman since Kailiana Johnson in 2013 to score in the first two games of her freshman season.
At halftime, the teams were level on the scoreboard. As the second half commenced, the Cougars came out aggressive, pressing the Aggies very high up the pitch. This strategy worked in the 53rd minute when freshman Megan Santa Cruz picked a loose ball up in the Aggies’ penalty box before being taken down from behind near the end line, resulting in a hard-earned penalty. Fifth-year senior Grayson Lynch stepped up to take the penalty and confidently put the ball in the back of the net, propelling WSU to an early 2-1 lead in the second half.
As the game went on, the Aggies were searching for an equalizer, and they found one less than 10 minutes later when the referee pointed to the penalty spot once again. In the 60th minute redshirt senior transfer Keeley Cooper brought an Aggie attacker down inside the box, and Maile Hayes stepped up for the Aggies to equalize from the spot.
After the equalizer, TAMU pressed hard for the game-winning opportunity, and WSU looked to make something happen on the counterattack. In the 79th minute, a botched clearance attempt by Texas A&M inside their own box fell to senior Margie Detrizio, who one-timed the ball out of the air across the box to a wide-open Lynch. The fifth-year senior took a touch before coolly chipping the game-winning goal into the far post for her second goal of the night. Detrizio’s assist made it 2 assists in 2 games for the forward, upping her career total two-assist games to 13, one shy of the WSU all-time top-10 list.
The goal gave Lynch her third-career brace and first two goals of the season. Lynch’s goal tally increased to 17, three shy of the school’s all-time top-10 list. This was the seventh game-winning goal of Lynch’s career.
Junior goalkeeper Nadia Cooper made five saves during the match, increasing her career total to 116 saves, and picked up her 20th career win.
The Cougars are back in action at 7 p.m. Thursday in Portland against University of Portland Pilots.
