thebattalion l monday,
november 11, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media
soccer
A&M wins first-ever SEC tournament Aggies top Florida 2-1 in Sunday rematch Clay Koepke The Battalion
T
he Texas A&M women’s soccer team toppled the SEC topseeded No. 5 Florida Gators 2-1 in the SEC Tournament Championship game on Sunday, earning the program’s first-ever SEC Tournament crown and clinching a bid to its 19th consecutive NCAA Division I Tournament. “It’s a great feeling,” said junior midfielder Shea Groom. “Being co-champions in the regular season when we had a chance to win it outright wasn’t what we wanted. We felt like this would be a tie-
breaker if we won it. We don’t have to share this with anyone.” The Aggies fell behind in the 28th minute of the match, as Florida’s Annie Speese was able to strike first for the Gators, giving them a 1-0 lead going into the intermission. A&M battled back, though, behind Groom’s tying score in the 56th minute. A&M’s All-SEC Freshman, Liz Keester, was able to clinch the game-winning goal for the Aggies with 6:58 remaining in the match. Keester scorched a shot to the far post from 25 yards out past the Florida keeper to give the Aggies a 2-1 advantage. Keester’s game-winning goal brought her tournament goal total to three, earning her All-Tournament MVP honors and joining three other Aggies — juniors Allie
Bailey, Shea Groom and Meghan Streight — on the SEC All-Tournament Team. “It means a lot — it’s really exciting,” Keester said. “I wouldn’t be anywhere without my teammates. They make the passes. They’re right there carrying me across the line when we’re running. We’re all in it together.” The Aggies’ next challenge, the 2013 NCAA Tournament, begins Friday.
Junior forward Annie Kunz (No. 7) and sophomore defender Janae Cousineau attempt a header during A&M’s 2-1 win over Florida on Sunday. Todd Van Emst — SEC
SEE YOU SOON, KYLE FIELD.
Renovations to Kyle Field began immediately after the 51-41 A&M win against Mississippi State on Saturday, starting with the removal of the grass (pictured right).
opinion | 2 Pay him or pay him respect Mark Doré argues if Johnny Manziel wants an NFL career, the time is now. And it’s up to the 12th Man to support him. Photos by Tanner Garza, Chase Krumholz and Josh McKenna — THE BATTALION
wiley lecture series
corps of cadets
Military tactics prompt dialogue
Fish awarded Corps Brass
Notable guests share experiences with lightfootprint strategies Jennifer Reiley The Battalion
A
panel of three, including a four-star general, the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times and an ambassador who has been named an honorary marine, shared insight Friday on the changing American military. Boots off the Ground was presented by the MSC Wiley Lecture Series to delve into the topic of the American military’s increasing trend toward light-footprint strategies.
BAT_11-11-13_A1.indd 1
Gen. Stan McChrystal has personally witnessed the change in American military technology. McChrystal compared the situation today with that of then-Col. Rudder’s in 1944. McChrystal said because of limited intelligence, Rudder’s battalion was sent on a nighttime mission that ultimately was pointless. “Fifty years later exactly [in 1994], I was leading the same battalion that Col. James Earl Rudder had and when we went on operations, much of what we did was much the same,” McChrystal said. “We operated with fairly limited intelligence, we fired with weapons that worked about the same, we had night vision, but not everybody had them. So in fact not that much had changed.” See Wiley on page 4
Culmination event signifies ‘what we stand for as cadets’ Katy Stapp
The Battalion
W
ith sweat dripping down her back and fatigue setting in, Ashley Straker ran alongside other freshmen in her unit during the Corps Brass culmination Saturday. Unlike any of her workouts with the Corps of Cadets thus far, this one was the hardest, and she found herself fighting off the thought — “Will this ever end?” — by remembering the cadets before her who had worked for
their brass in the past. Straker now stands among the hundreds of freshmen cadets who received their Corps Brass insignia this weekend, a feat that requires a rite of passage taking place over a predetermined, but secret, amount of time. “The freshmen were basically woken up bright and early and we [had] them do formations and several workouts,” said Austen Jacobs, Corps public relations officer. “At the end, they [received] their Corps Brass. They had no idea they would be doing this.” While the final culmination of what many Corps freshmen have found to be See Corps Brass on page 4
11/10/13 9:13 PM