The woodwork in College Station saw a lot of action this past weekend as one of the top offenses in Division I soccer fired 56 shots toward goal. Fans at Texas A&M’s Ellis Field ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ with each blast, but would never witness an Aggie goal in two games where the Maroon and White dominated their SEC visitors. Instead, spectators would seethe with frustration for the talented frontrunners.

“It was a bad weekend for our goal scorers to have a cold spell,” A&M head coach G. Guerrieri said. “Hopefully they can get it out of their system during training this week, and they will because they are quality players. You do have to be pleased that they were able to control the play and get good shots off. We just need to finish and we'll work on that.”

On Friday, the Aggies defense had difficulties containing Tennessee’s talented sophomore forward Hannah Wilkinson who got off five shots and scored the game’s only goal in the 10^th minute from a CC Cobb assist. Wilkinson earned SEC Offensive Player of the Week for her two gamewinners on the weekend. The 5’11” New Zealand native leads the Lady Vols (13-4-2, 8-3-1) with seven goals on the year, but perhaps her biggest came in the upset Friday night in College Station.

"It was a great win," Tennessee head coach Brian Pensky said. "Great goal. CC Cobb had a great little ball in to Hannah and it was a class finish. It was just a gritty performance. That's a good team. They have a lot of attacking weapons, they've been scoring a ton of goals this fall, and they're very good on set pieces.”

Wilkinson returned to the Lady Vols from the U-20 World Cup where she participated shortly after playing for New Zealand’s full national team at the London Olympics. Her one-woman army was enough to break through an Aggies defense that’s collectively earned 11 shutouts on the year.

“Sometimes it doesn't seem to be a fair game, but Tennessee battled hard and found a way to win it,” Guerrieri said.

On the other side of the ball, the Aggies suffered another 80 minutes of exasperation as their 23 shots could not get past sophomore Julie Eckel in goal. Eckel earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week for her 15 saves over the weekend. In fact, the 2011 SEC All-Freshman selection recorded a career-high 11 saves in denying the Aggies.

“It’s a great atmosphere to be able to play in a stadium like this,” Eckel said. “They had bleachers around the whole field so the crowd was just insane the whole time. It’s fun and kind of annoying to play with something like that. It was just a tough game the whole way. We gritted out a win and stuck with it.”

The Aggies would only have to wait till Sunday to tie the school record for 12 shutouts in a single season as they defeated Georgia (7-10-2, 3-7-2) in double overtime 1-0. It seemed as though A&M would continue with its offensive frustrations when 103 minutes and 33 shots passed before a Leigh Edwards cross produced a deflection that got past Ashley Baker in goal for Georgia. Sophomore forward Shea Groom crashed the box, putting pressure on the Bulldogs’ defense, resulting in the missclear that went back into the net. Sophomore Kelley Monogue led the Aggies with eight shots on the day, but only two were on frame. Baker also made 11 stops against TAMU.

“I think with all of our forwards it was a frustrating day,” Guerrieri said. “Shea was a good example of perseverance to keep going and going and going. They knock you down, literally, and you get back up. You have to have a short memory and keep after it.”

No matter what happens Thursday in league play, TAMU (15-3-1, 9-2-1) will earn one of the top three seeds and a bye into the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. However, the Aggies still have a chance to make history and win the SEC regular season title if they defeat Missouri and Florida loses to South Carolina. The Aggies will face the Tigers at home Thursday at 7:00 p.m. 

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