On Sept. 23 the NAIA Red River Conference received a taste of the roaring excitement and Jaguar pride Texas A&M University-San Antonio had to offer hosting the soccer teams of Texas A&M-Texarkana. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams competed to a draw in their first conference game in university history.
Students, faculty, even Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson, president of A&M-San Antonio, gathered to support the Jags for their inaugural home debut.
Both match-ups took place on the field behind parking lot 2 and modular C on campus.
“Olé, olé, olé, olé! Let’s go! Jaguars, let’s go!” chants rang throughout the sidelines from student athletes cheering on the women’s team.
In the first match between the women’s teams, defense was prioritized from start to finish as A&M-San Antonio endured a total of 11 fouls from Texarkana compared with their four fouls for the day. This match was fast paced and physical as both teams refused to give up a score resulting in a 0-0 2OT finish.
A&M-San Antonio’s women’s team only attempted six shots at goal for the day, while Texarkana attempted a total of 17 shots. Maram Abdeljaber, freshman goalkeeper, had active hands all game long, saving seven out of eight total shots from being scored.
Head coach Leslie Pierce was interviewed shortly after the game by Sports2nite news and media. “This is the potential that we have as a young team,” Pierce said. “So much more once we get in games and get more consistency.”
The men’s team was up next against Texarkana, a group bigger in stature, though matched in resilience.
“Let’s go Jags!” chants were heard loud and proud in support of the Jags’ first home game.
The game started out fast paced with the ball constantly flying back and forth through the air. Lots of head-butts, fancy footwork, acrobatic kicks and goal saves would best describe the conference debut performance for A&M-San Antonio’s men’s team.
Like the women’s team, the men refused to lose, playing Texarkana to a draw 0-0 2OT. Notably Brandon Gonzalez, junior goalkeeper, solidified the Jags defense saving a total of eight goals from being scored.
Saturday’s game vs. LSU-Shreveport (09/25)
While the home debuts of A&M-San Antonio soccer did not end in victory, both teams competed hard from start to finish against top teams in the Red River Conference.
A&M-San Antonio completed their homestand on Sept. 25 against conference visitors LSU-Shreveport where the women’s team finished 0-0 2OT and the men’s team finished 0-7. This places A&M-San Antonio soccer in 7th place in the women’s division and 9th place in the men’s division.
The Jaguar athletes now look forward to their conference road trip to Louisiana to face Louisiana College on Sept. 30 and will conclude on Oct. 2 after facing LSU-Alexandria.
The Jags’ next home game is Oct. 7 against Paul Quinn College in another conference match-up. The women’s team will play first at 1 p.m. and the men will follow at 3 p.m. at TAMUSA field.
For more information and news about A&M-San Antonio’s men’s and women’s soccer teams, visit their social media accounts on Instagram @tamusa_menssoccer and @tamusawomenssoccer or follow the teams’ coverage @tamusasports on all other media sources.
