FRESNO, Calif. – Wrapping up its first road trip of the 2026 season, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team was unable to head out of California with a victory, playing a competitive match with Fresno State on Sunday afternoon but ultimately getting taken down by a final score of 2-0.
The Islanders (3-2-2) came into play over the weekend looking to avenge their first loss of the season to CSU Bakersfield on the first leg of their stop out west on Thursday, and they started off hot against the Bulldogs (1-4-1) as a result, kicking things off with a chance in the opening minute that ended up earning them the first corner kick of the game for either side. This opportunity ended up being met with one on the other side from Fresno State off its own corner in the eighth minute that freshman goalkeeper
Addie Brown managed to punch away, recording the first save of her second start of the year in net.
The run of play mellowed out more from here, but both squads ramped things back up past the halfway mark of the opening period, starting with a pair of chances from A&M-Corpus Christi on a try from outside the 18 by
Katie Porter that sailed just over the crossbar and a counterattack opportunity for
Grace Clay that was thwarted by a challenge from keeper Jessica Reiss well outside her box. On the other side, Fresno State then preceded to threaten twice themselves, first on a shot in the 31
st minute that forced a nice diving save from Brown and then again on the ensuing corner. None of these found the back of the net for either side, though, bringing things into halftime still scoreless.
The second half of the match began with a more methodical pace, with the only tries at goal over the first 10 minutes being ones that proved to be easily handled by the respective keepers. From here, however, the Bulldogs started to pick up some steam, first earning a free kick from directly outside the box and then getting a couple more shots off that were either saved or blocked by an Islanders defender. This pressure finally cracked the defense in the 62
nd minute, with the hosts finally finding the first goal of the game to put A&M-Corpus Christi into a hole with just under a half hour to go.
Now needing to ramp up their own aggression, the Islanders got what ended up being their best shot not even 10 minutes later, getting three different chances in quick succession that all nearly equalized the score. The first of these came on a long ball into the box that found
Vanessa Wimbish, who turned and fired a shot that was blocked to earn a corner. On the set piece,
Ashley Wilson received the ball right outside the box and took a try herself that bounced off the crossbar and just in front of the goal mouth, and on the rebound, Clay attempted a header that Reiss was able to corral, ending the threat with the score still at 1-0.
As it turned out, this would be the closest that the Islanders would get, as the Bulldogs capitalized on their good fortune and put home another goal in the 81
st minute, making it a 2-0 deficit with under 10 to go. This proved to be too much to overcome, sending the visitors home with the defeat.
The two standouts for the Islanders individually on the day ended up being Wilson and Clay, who both provided a spark to the offense in their minutes with three shots apiece and a few narrow misses for both. Despite the loss to her ledger, Brown also managed to record eight saves, which marks the most for an A&M-Corpus Christi keeper in a game so far this year.
The Islanders will now try to get back on the positive side of the ledger in their return to Corpus Christi, hosting UTEP next Sunday at 12 p.m. in their final nonconference match of the year.
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