Was this my first proper day off from work this year? Maybe. It was definitely the first Aggie game of the new season, Aggie Soccer versus Colorado College, so I took off for this evening game. I had somewhat agonized all summer about going back for more Aggie Sports. In the end, I had a few reasons to go and no reason not to other than I wasn’t really enthusiastic about it.
It was partly cloudy with rain in the area, but that thankfully kept the hot sun away until it went down. Otherwise, it was quite pleasant out. I went over to Chik-fil-a for dinner and it was great, but didn’t entirely go down well. I had internal consternation during the game, as well as from watching it.
At the Soccer Complex, I got to meet the biggest celebrity in Aggie Sports, Wave the Wonder Dog. He was a good dog. He licked me. This would be the highlight of the game for me. (This might be more foreshadowing about how the game would go.) Wave was there to hand out little statues of himself to fans buying Football season tickets. Marketing Director Nicole Sacks was there and I said, “Hi,” her. I told her I wasn’t signed up for those tickets, but I was going to get an Aggie Country Pass. She said I might be first somewhat wistfully. This doesn’t speak well for ticket sales.
(I had called the ticket office earlier. The guy there said, “Thanks for reminding me to take some.” I know they sold at least one more from seeing someone in the crowd with one.)
I saw some of Volleyball girls up front. I only recognized one of them. The rest must have been new. The team would camp out behind the north goal as usual. What was a change was that the scoreboard was no longer there. It had been moved off to the side at an angle. I guess it had taken one too many hits from being behind the goal.
I know the field was redone in the spring, but it currently looks terrible with yellow splotches everywhere. Meanwhile, next door Kill Hill is bright green from the summer rains and needs to be mowed. I checked out the Merch trailer and saw a new Wave t-shirt I’ll probably have to get on another day.
Terrible rap music was playing for the warmups, as usual. Rachel Haan was out on the field looking physically impressive. I’d finally get to see her play after she’d sat out last season. Unfortunately, Sydnee Johnson, one of the fastest girls on the team, was in a boot on the sidelines. Xitlaly Hernandez was back with the team, but now as a Graduate Assistant. From watching the game, Meredith Scott appears to be the team captain. She looks a lot more confident out there playing. It’s great to see. Sigh. I’m still missing Mya Hammack (10-13-24), though. What I also didn’t see was any interesting-looking new players. (More foreshadowing.)
It was a good crowd for a game against a school I’d never heard of. The Colorado College Tigers are in the Mountain West, so I assume they’re pretty good. Actually, from looking at their website, I think this is their only team in the conference. Their other programs, like Basketball, look to be Division II. I saw a young man in the crowd with a classic Jeff Gordon t-shirt. If I’d sat by him, I would have asked about it. Some guys from the Football team were out of the weight room and were watching from the hill. Some guys from the Baseball team might have been there, too.
Our goalie, Valerie Guha, seemed to have her own cheering section during player introductions. The team was wearing black with white stripes on the side. For our Anthem, we had three kneelers. (As if I wasn’t getting enough heartburn from dinner.) A new Pistol Pete walked by to hype up the crowd. He’d come in front of the crowd periodically during the game to lead cheers. He’s an enthusiastic fellow. They got the right guy. Also enthusiastic was our backup goalie, Karolanne Lafortune. In the huddle, she was jumping up and down in excitement. (Be careful. We only have two goalies on the roster.)
First Half
It felt like a bad start with CC easily keeping it in the Aggie end for most of the first half. They had an early corner and Val had to make a dive save on the shot. The Aggies had a couple of unforced turnovers. The Aggies got a corner kick with 37’ minutes left in the half. Defender Marlee Cavitt stripped an attacker on a breakaway. She got elbowed to the ground for the effort. Meredith later also got pushed to the ground. The Tigers were playing rough and the Aggies weren’t really handing it back to them.
The Aggies did take the offensive. 33’ new freshman Tessa O’Neill fed Meredith for a good attack chance. 31’ Marlee connected with Meredith for a header that just missed. But on a counter right after with just a couple of Tiger attackers, Kendall Memoly was alone in front of the Aggie goal. Val made a dive for the ball, but it was just out-of-reach. 0-1 CC.
The Tigers weren’t done. 24’ Val had to stop a point blank shot. The Aggies weren’t done either. 21’ Tessa found Meredith unguarded in front of the net. Goooooal! (I think I was the only one there with a cowbell to ring. Did everyone else forget theirs?) 1-1. The Aggies began doing some subbing. I won’t say that’s the cause, but there was Kendall again with the ball. 19’ she fired it through a crowd in front of the Aggie goal and found the net. 1-2 CC.
The Tigers pressed. 14’ it was nearly a crossing shot for an easy tap in that thankfully got kicked away. 12’ Mya Gonzales blocked a shot in front of the goal. 5’ the Aggies had a long possession in the CC end. They patiently made a bunch of passes, but never got a shot off and turned it over.
The guys behind me were doing commentary and criticism for the play on the field. They’ve sat behind me before. After a few bad kicks, one of the guys wanted to offer to be an assistant coach to help. I’m not sure if one of the guys was involved with one the players, but he mentioned he saw one of the girls was on an app giving a bad rating to her ex-boyfriend. I know this is probably more interesting than the game, but that’s all I heard.
4’ Mya made a great fakeout of a defender in front of the stands. Always do those kind of plays in front of the crowd if you want some appreciation for them. The commentary guys started going after the ball girls. “They’re not putting in in any effort. It’s not like you’re working at Walmart. Just run and get the damn ball.”
2’ Kendall took an unexpected ball off her head in front of the Aggie goal. She went down, but play continued. Val had fall on another shot before time expired. 1-2 CC.
Second Half
There was a Dizzy kick contest with a couple of little kids during halftime. They weren’t dizzy enough to make it entertaining. 43’ minutes left in the game, Bianca Chacon got a free kick at the top of the CC box. It was deflected away. (Bianca was injured last year. She came back as a graduate student this year.) A couple of minutes later, Charlotte Strabel on the Tigers was injured and had to be helped off. I didn’t see what happened to her.
The Tigers were back on the attack. 37’ Jena Johannes blocked a shot with her head. 33’ finally! Rachel came in and I got to see her play. I’d been waiting a year for this. She kicked the ball to Bianca for a shot. Tiger Goalie Regan Wallace had to fall on it. 30’ Milana Eyrich (Millie) passed to Rachel on a breakaway. She was well-guarded, but got off a kick that went wide.
28’ a player squared up and kicked one right into the stands . . . at me! I was holding something in both hands, but managed to deflect it. My hand was numb for a minute, but nothing like last season when I jammed a finger deflecting a ball. Like I mentioned above, a player took a deflected ball to the head and went down. The girls kick that ball really hard. (Another Tiger may have been taken out of the game for concussion protocols, but I didn’t see what caused it.)
26’ Rachel charged downfield on a breakaway, but lost the ball to a defender. She came out shortly after that. Well, she’s raw, no doubt, but she’s got a big leg. I hope Rachel learns quick, because I think she’ll be a real asset to the team. The Aggies got a corner right after. The Tigers were hopping mad about the call. Bianca kicked a popup shot that went over the goal.
23’ Jena hooked a breakaway attacker before she entered the Aggie box and received a yellow card. It was a free kick at the top of the box by Kendall. 19’ Val stopped it. On the counter, Millie took a long pass for a breakaway attempt. The defender back to confront her managed to break it up. Back the other way, Val made a dive and stopped a shot by Finley Schoenbeck. 18’ Millie was downfield on another long breakaway, but it was broken up again.
A little kid down in front timidly started a “Let’s go, Aggies!” chant. A moment later, the crowd picked it and sang along. 13’ the Aggies got another corner. They only managed a weak header on goal that was caught. A couple of minutes later, Ariana Ellison broke up a Tiger attack.
9’ the Aggies got into the Tiger box. Meredith was only able to make an awkward kick with the side of her foot while being swarmed by defenders. Right after, Bianca took a running shot that was blocked. A minute later, the Aggies had a corner, but didn’t get off an attack. 5’ save of the match by Val with a flying one-hand block off a CC corner. The Aggies made their last attack with 1:30’ left. Wallace pushed the ball out of the box. Time expired. Tigers win, 2-1.
I forgot to write down stats off the scoreboard at the end of the game. (It’s early in the season. Cut me some slack.) From seeing it earlier, CC pretty much dominated in shots and corners. The Aggies might have made it closer from their attacks in the second half. Tiger Kendall Memoly gets an easy Gameball for scoring a brace of goals. Meredith Scott gets one for her goal. Valerie Guha gets a Gameball for working hard to keep the score close.
I was wondering who Coach Baarts would bring in out of the transfer portal to replace some of his graduated star players. I’m not sure he found any big transfers. Volleyball may be in the same boat and I wonder if this is an institutional issue. (More on this later.) Though most of the team are multi-year returners, it seemed like they were almost starting over from scratch. This seems like a regression. Maybe they weren’t taking their opponent seriously or just had first game jitters. They did play GCU in an exhibition last week. I don’t know how that went.
Meredith seems like she’s ready to be a star and has players who can feed her the ball, but the Aggies need another scoring option or need to be much better defensively. It’s too bad Sydnee is out, because she could be that option. Again, if Rachel can play more and better, she could be an offensive threat.
I can’t judge the team accurately from one game though, especially since I didn’t know anything about the competition. We’ll see the Soccer girls again this weekend. Maybe we’ll get a better picture then.
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