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Third-ranked A&M beats Kansas

Pistorius notches fifth career hat trick to highlight Ags' second half

By LARRY BOWEN
Eagle Staff Writer

The Texas A&M women's soccer team sputtered through a predictably slow start against Kansas, but the Aggies cruised to an expected victory over the struggling Jayhawks on Sunday afternoon.

Ashlee Pistorius' second-half hat trick that spiced up A&M's 5-1 home victory wasn't shocking, considering it was the fifth three-goal match of her career.

The biggest surprise must have been the player who ignited the victory - and the manner in which she provided the spark.

Enlarge photo

Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Dave McDermand Texas A&M's Cydne Currie (22) watches after heading the ball toward the Kansas goal between two Jayhawk defenders in the second half Sunday at the Aggie Soccer Stadium. A&M won 5-1.

Seldom-used sophomore midfielder Natalie Currie scored her first goal of the season and the third of her career late in the first half, hooking a corner kick that rode the wind for a surprising goal that broke a scoreless tie.

"This is my first time to get into a ballgame and take a corner kick," Currie said. "I've done them in practice, but in games I haven't. It was pretty exciting. I'm not going to lie."

Currie's bender enabled the third-ranked Aggies (7-2-1, 1-1 Big 12) to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room. During halftime, head coach G. Guerrieri and his staff reshaped the A&M attack and reminded the Aggies that neither their hard-fought loss at Missouri on Friday nor travel fatigue would excuse poor play.

"I talked about how we understand that they're tired but the team we're playing went two overtimes [Friday]," Guerrieri said. "There is no pity party here. Let's get after it.

"We challenged our outside midfielders to make more of an impact on the game. Straight from the kickoff, Allison Martino did a great job. Rachel Shipley sets up the goal that really puts us ahead for good. Elisabeth Jones did a good job as well. I was real pleased with them."

Shipley earned an assist on the first goal for Pistorius, a score that came less than 7 minutes into the second half and showed that, although the Aggies may have been flat, they would not be upset victims.

Kansas players gathered for a quick huddle after Pistorius made it 2-0, with KU defender Afton Sauer delivering an animated message to her teammates.

The talking-to didn't help Kansas (1-8-2, 0-1-1) prevent the Aggies from seizing control of the match. A&M scored two goals in less than 4 minutes, with Laura Grace Robinson slipping through the defense to score and then setting up Pistorius' second goal.

Kansas got a pretty goal from Nicole Cauzillo less than a minute after A&M built a 3-0 lead, but the Aggies answered with two goals by Pistorius, which pushed her team-leading total to 12.

"This is what the doctor ordered," Guerrieri said. "When we stopped defending, you could see how good Kansas was.

"They went bing-bing-bing-bing-bing and scored seconds after our goal. They've had a lot of close losses. I think this is the first lopsided loss they've had."