HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Emily Traynor scored a game-high three times to notch Player of the Game accolades and lead the No. 10-ranked/Texas Division Champion Aggies of Texas A&M University to a 6-4 victory over Division III No. 3/North Atlantic Division Champion the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the first round of the 2022 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted at the Huntsville Aquatics Center.
The National Championship hopes of Texas A&M remain alive as the Aggies will next be in action at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, versus No. 4/Southwest Division Champion the University of California-San Diego in the tournament quarterfinals. Comparatively, MIT falls into the consolation side of the championship bracket and will return to the water at 7:30 p..m. this evening to face No. 16/Southeast Division Championship runner-up the University of Central Florida. UCF dropped its opening round game to UC-San Diego by an 8-3 count earlier in the day.
The Aggies never trailed against the Engineers as Alexis Hedge broke free to put Texas A&M ahead 1-0 with 4:50 left in the first quarter. Sophie Reynolds (So., Palo Alto, Calif.) balanced the scoreboard at one-all less than a minute later as she found the back corner of the cage with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter.
Texas A&M pulled ahead once again in the second quarter via scoring volleys by Shaye Smith (2:53) and Erika Thomson (17 seconds), but MIT goaltender Shannon Moreno (Gr., Fullerton, Calif.) winged a shot into the cage with approximately two seconds left in the first half to chop the Aggies’ lead to 3-2 entering intermission.
MIT completed its comeback at the 5:24 mark of the third quarter as Reynolds squared the squads at three-all and set the stage for the final 12 minutes to decide the victor.
Emily Traynor turned the tide in favor of Texas A&M over the remainder of the third quarter by rifling in man-up (1:58) and natural (28 seconds) tallies to put the Aggies ahead to stay at 5-3.
Soumya Kannan (Gr., Palo Alto, Calif.) chipped the lead back to one at 5-4 with 14 seconds left in the third quarter, but a fourth quarter strike by Traynor to complete a hat-trick and a trio of saves by goalie Corine Kaderli to befuddle the Engineers down the stretch allowed Texas A&M to escape with a 6-4 win.
For MIT – which previously finished Fifth (2005), Seventh (2006, 2019), Eighth (2007) and 12th (2017) in the program’s prior trips to the National Collegiate Club Championship – Reynolds led the way with a pair of goals to accompany Kannan and Moreno’s solo markers. Moreno made seven saves in cage.
Texas A&M – which is making the program’s 10th appearance at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship following berths in 2001 (Eighth), 2005 (12th), 2008 (15th), 2010 (13th), 2013 (12th), 2014 (12th), 2015 (15th), 2017 (Ninth) and 2018 (13th) – received single goals from Thomson, Hedge and Smith to go along with Traynor’s trio of tallies to pick up the win. Goalies Julia Klein and Kaderli combined to make 10 saves.
The Aggies are seeking to make history as a Texas Division team has never made the title game as either the division champion/representative or host team has placed either Sixth (2005), Eighth (2006, 2001), Ninth (2017), 10th (2009, 2004), 11th (2012, 2011, 2003), 12th (2014, 2013, 2005, 2002), 13th (2010, 2007, 2016, 2018) or 15th (2008, 2015, 2019) since 2001.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 10 Texas A&M University |
1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | 6 |
| Division III No. 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 4 |
| MIT Goals: | Sophie Reynolds (2); Soumya Kannan; Shannon Moreno | |||||
| Texas A&M Goals: | Emily Traynor (3); Erika Thomson; Alexis Hedge; Shaye Smith | |||||
| Saves: | MIT – Shannon Moreno (7) ; Texas A&M – Julia Klein (5, 7 minutes), Corine Kaderli (5) | |||||
| Exclusions: | MIT – 5 ; Texas A&M – 3 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | MIT – 0-for-3 ; Texas A&M – 1-for-5 | |||||
| Sprints: | MIT – 1-for-4 (2nd) ; Texas A&M -3-for-4 (1st, 3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Matt Langford; Dustin Devaney | |||||
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Ria Sonecha (#2) prepares to deliver a pass as Texas A&M University’s Avery Davis (#3) defends
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Soumya Kannan (#12) pursues a Texas A&M University shooter
Texas A&M University’s Shaye Smith (#14) goes for the ball against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sarah Demsky (#4)
