CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team earned points for the second consecutive conference match on Sunday afternoon, playing a closely contested contest with East Texas A&M and taking home a 1-1 draw as a result.
Coming off a big win over Lamar in their last match, the Islanders (3-6-4, 1-2-2 SLC) started Sunday by picking up where they left off, earning a pair of corner kicks in the first seven minutes and continuing to press forward on the Lions (4-5-4, 1-0-4 SLC) through the opening portion of the afternoon. This offensive pressure would pay off in the 20
th minute, as junior
Ashley Wilson would make a nice run through the midfield and deliver a beautiful pass to freshman
MyJoi Anderson in the box, who finished with a right-footed shot past Lions keeper Gillian McKenzie to put A&M-Corpus Christi up early. This was Wilson's second straight match with an assist after she dished one out to junior
Dakota Merino against the Cardinals on Thursday, and it also brought Anderson's points streak up to two following her own pair of assists in the same match. In the goals category, it marked Anderson's second of the year and first since she put home the equalizer in the 86
th minute against New Mexico on August 17.
The Islanders continued to turn up the heat after this, most notably in a five-minute stretch near the end of the half that saw a corner kick attempt as well as shots from Wilson, sophomore
Alisa Divano and freshman
Keira Truofreh that made their way wide of the goal mouth. The team also did a good job of slowing down an East Texas A&M offense that ranked third in the Southland in goals scored during conference play coming in, surrendering just three shots in the first half and none on target. The best opportunity on the other end came in the form of a breakaway run by the Lions' Hannah Bell, but Wilson continued her strong performance by making an incredible defensive play, running down the speedy forward and dispossessing her with a textbook tackle to cut off the threat before it developed further.
The second half saw A&M-Corpus Christi come out with a shot on goal from junior
Katie Porter in the 48
th minute that was saved, but after this, East Texas A&M started to shift the momentum in its favor, controlling the run of play and finally breaking through at the 60-minute mark with a goal by Kristen Sueltz that was headed in off a free kick taken by Trinity Egerton. This brought the score up to 1-1, where it would stay for the rest of the match despite some late pressure by the Islanders, who threatened deep in Lions' territory in the waning moments but saw a pair of shots from Wilson and freshman
Sophia Dias go over the crossbar and out of harm's way.
A&M-Corpus Christi ended up outshooting East Texas A&M 13-10 in total on the day, with both squads putting three of these on target. Individually, Wilson led the way with three shots, and Divano, Truofreh and Dias joined her with multiple at two each. Redshirt senior
Hayven Harrison got the start in net with sophomore
Jessie Spurrell unable to play due to a red card in the last match, and she ended up making a pair of saves to run her total up to 39 on the year.
The Islanders will now hit the road for their next match, heading back to Louisiana to take on Northwestern State on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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