Mizzou's Greatest, #103: Missouri Soccer 3, Texas A&M 2 (2007)

As the 2007 season got underway, you got the feeling that it could be something special for the Tigers. Missouri opened the campaign with a 3-1 win away to #20 Illinois and shutouts at Iowa (2-0) and at home vs. Eastern Illinois (3-0). They went out west and narrowly lost to #1 Stanford (3-2) and #3 Santa Clara (2-1) and finished the non-conference part of the schedule 6-2-0 and ranked #16 in the country.

Texas A&M came into the game 6-1-1 with a 2-1 loss away to North Carolina and a draw away to Penn State. Expectations were very high in College Stations for the Aggies to win their fourth straight Big 12 title.

The third-largest Walton Stadium crowd (at the time) saw Mizzou's Kristin Andrighetto hit the post in the 18th minute and the crossbar in the 28th minute. But it was the Aggies who got on the scoreboard first, in the 34th minute. Freshman Kari Adam was quick to equalize with a header from a Mallory Forst free kick in the 38th minute, and the two teams went to the dressing rooms all square at 1-1.

Texas A&M came out of the interval in attack mode, culminating in an attack where Allison Martino took the ball into the penalty area and found Ashlee Pistorius, who banged in their second goal just inside the far post.

But the Tigers weren’t done: Crystal Wagner sent a long pass from the midfeld to Kari Adam, who put the ball over the Aggie keeper who was too far from goal. The Missouri equalizer came in the 71st minute, and Adam’s brace were her only two goals so far in the season.

Everything continued to be even-Steven through 19 minutes of overtime, when Mo Redmond found Andrighetto at the top of the box. This pulled the Aggie keeper away from goal and allowed the Tiger striker to put the ball to the left of the her. Andrighetto's eighth goal of the season came with 34 seconds remaining on the clock.

Missouri climbed to #6 in the country and went on to win its next three games. But the Tigers dropped four of six to finish the season, and Texas A&M indeed claimed their fourth consecutive Big 12 title. In the Big 12 tournament, Texas A&M exacted some revenge and eliminated the Tigers 4-1 on their way to a second-place finish.

In the NCAA tournament, Missouri beat SEMO on penalty kicks before losing to USC in 2 OT; it is still their furthest trip into that tournament. Two years later, the Tigers would finally claim the conference title.

Interestingly, when doing some research about this game, I naturally looked deep into the annals of Rock M Nation….and found that this blog’s first posts were just a week later. The Boy gave it a mention the next day on Mizzou Sanity, but didn’t have much to say other than a tidy recap. The Trib, however:

No one epitomized the team’s mature play more than sophomore forward Kristin Andrighetto.

In the game’s first 25 minutes, she hit the goal frame twice. She also just missed wide left with a shot in the 11th minute.

"I was trying to keep my head up and continue to shoot," Andrighetto said. "It was hard because I was hitting every post possible."

She received a chance to redeem herself in the second 10-minute overtime session.

Missouri junior goalkeeper Mallory Forst punted the ball to midfield. The ball was won by Texas A&M, but Missouri’s Mo Redmond picked off an errant pass and played the ball ahead to Andrighetto.
Andrighetto took a couple touches and then, with an Aggie defender closing from behind, fired a low shot to Texas A&M goalkeeper Kristin Arnold’s right. The ball rolled underneath the 6-foot Arnold with 34 seconds to play, and the celebration began.

"You just got to shoot low, which normally is what you want to do anyways, because it’s harder for goalies to get that," Andrighetto said. "I think since she’s a taller goalie that’s even more imperative, because they’re not as fast to get low to the ground as shorter goalies."