Huskers Upset No. 9 Texas A&M in College Station

College Station, Texas ? The Nebraska soccer team pulled off the biggest upset of the season Friday night when it took down No. 9 Texas A&M, 2-1, in College Station to remain in the Big 12 Conference title race.

With the win, the Huskers improved to 11-4-1 on the season and 6-2-0 in the Big 12 Conference and kept the pressure on conference leader Colorado for the Big 12 regular-season title. Texas A&M dropped to 11-3-2 on the year and 4-2-2 in the conference. Colorado leads the Big 12, as the only remaining team without a loss after picking up a 1-0 win at Texas on Friday night.

"I think this is a very big win in terms of the conference and the NCAA Tournament," Coach John Walker said. "We showed self belief in a very difficult environment. This is a tough place to play with 3,586 fans there. We were out there with no seniors, and the girls stuck in there. We weathered the storm early, and just battled hard and got lead and defended it."

Kari Hogan and Jenna Cooper, NU’s assist leaders, finally got to be the ones on the other end of the ball as they both provided goals to propel the Huskers to victory.

All three goals of the game took place in a five-minute span of action in the second half. Texas A&M dominated most of the first half, outshooting the Huskers 8-1 in the opening period, but the Husker defense held strong and didn’t allow a goal before the intermission.

At the 58:06 mark, Hogan clinched her second goal of the season from 15 yards out thanks to Brooke Bredenberg, who blasted the ball to Hogan after making a save to set Hogan up for the Huskers’ first goal.

In a flurry of action, Texas A&M’s Carrie Berend got her third goal of the season at the 60:33 mark on a header off a Laura Probst cross.

Cooper was responsible for the most remarkable play of the night, when she sent in a stinging corner kick that deflected off the Aggie goalkeeper and bounced into the net just over three minutes later.

"We have been asking Jenna to be more consistent on set plays, and she scored directly from a corner kick, and we’ve been asking Kari to be more goal-oriented, and she had a great goal," Walker said. "This was really a team win. We showed a great amount of desire and resolve throughout the game and that is the only way you are going to win these types of games."

Nebraska got a break as Kristen Strutz had two shots for A&M that hit the crossbar and took unlucky bounces into the hands of Bredenberg.

The Husker defense put on a solid performance, however, for the last 25 minutes as they hunkered down and held the Aggies scoreless for the rest of the game to preserve the win in a game that was very similar to the Big 12 Tournament Championship game in 2002.

Texas A&M outshot Nebraska 17-6 for the contest, and posted nine shots on goal to NU’s three. The Aggies also took seven corner kicks to the Huskers’ one.

Bredenberg improved to 10-3-1 on the season with sevens saves on the night. Kati Jo Spisak allowed two goals and made one save, to fall to 11-3-2 on the season.

The Nebraska win snapped Texas A&M’s 23-game home winning streak. The last time A&M lost a game in College Station it was to Nebraska on Oct. 14, 2001. The Huskers defeated the Aggies to win the Big 12 Tournament crown in 2002, but dropped a 3-2 decisoin in Lincoln during the 2002 regular season.

The Huskers take on Texas at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mike A. Myers Stadium. The Longhorns took a 1-0 loss to Colorado Friday night. In order for Nebraska to win or tie for the Big 12 regular season title, Colorado must lose at Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon.