[CLASICO] Texas A&M continued its domination of Texas at home, knocking off the No. 1 Longhorns, 2-0, in front of 5,552 fans, the second largest crowd at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
Midfielder Amy Berend opened the scoring in the sixth minute, and Ashlee Pistorius added an insurance goal from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute for her Big 12 record 70th career goal.
“This is a real big win. Texas is a heck of a team, they are talented all over the park,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “[Texas coach] Chris [Petrucelli] is always going to have his team in any game. He does a great job in putting them together. That makes it that much more special for us. To be able to win with a shutout, down a man.”
Melissa Garey, sister of Columbus Crew forward Jason Garey, laid the ball off for Berend on the first goal and was taken down by Texas goalkeeper Dianna Pfenninger for the penalty.
“We talked about the way we were going to have to score was maybe not with our forwards but our midfield was going to have to get in there,” Guerrieri said of the first goal. “Melissa did a great job of playing in a ball behind her and Amy with the outside of her foot drove it into the far side netting. It was a really good goal. I thought Texas was in a good position, Amy just stepped in and found a crease.”
The Aggies won despite losing Allison Martino with a red card in the 32 minute and having to play with 10 players the rest of the game.
Pfenninger. who was issued one of the games five yellow cards after the collision with Garey, was taken off the field after the collision and received stitches.
She returned Sunday for the Longhorns’ 1-0 win over Baylor.