Sophomore Molly Tipton helped lead the Cowgirls to an undefeated start. After losing their past three meets, the Cowgirls will head to College Station to face their rivals, the Texas A&M Aggies.
Cowgirls have chance to rebound from 3 road losses against rival Texas A&M
When you have the last undefeated team in the nation, you start to feel a target on your back.
Coach Larry Sanchez felt that target on his equestrian team, and recently teams were able to hit the bull’s-eye as the Cowgirls lost their first three shows of the season.
Three straight losses don’t always mean a team is struggling though.
The Cowgirls (7-3) lost to Georgia, Auburn and Kansas State, but the three road losses came by a combined four points.
“The team is riding much better than the losses reflect,” associate head coach Suzanne Flaig said. “The errors have not been big ones.”
Sanchez said it’s difficult to win on the road, but the Cowgirls put forth good effort by coming close.
“For us to be able to compete as closely as we did in the last three really says a lot about us being able to go ride well on the road,” Sanchez said. “We’re very proud of that.”
Still, Sanchez said there were mistakes that could have made a difference.
“We missed opportunities that we should have capitalized on to change the outcome of the score,” he said. “We just need to make sure to work to remedy those when we go up against A&M this weekend.”
The Cowgirls have a chance to bounce back Saturday when they face Texas A&M (8-2).
Although it’s another road show, Sanchez said the riders will be ready for A&M, their biggest rival.
“Our girls are already excited to go to Texas A&M,” Sanchez said. “There’s a level of excitement that started [Monday], and we don’t even leave until Friday. It’s not going to take much to get our girls fired up to compete at the level they need to.”
Flaig said the recent close losses have the Cowgirls hungry for another victory.
“I think they get pretty fired up,” she said. “They realize how close it is and how in their control it is. So I think it just gets them more motivated for the next road trip.”
Texas A&M will be a difficult environment to win in, but Flaig said the riders respond well to tough situations.
“They’re very much competitors, and I think it would be easy for them to crumble under that pressure, but I think they’re very cool under pressure,” Flaig said. “It challenges them to keep their game elevated and continue to improve it, but they’re not intimidated by it. They can still go in and give a smart performance even under that pressure.”
The Cowgirls beat Texas A&M, 16-9, in Stillwater on Nov. 10, and the Aggies will be all the tougher as they look for revenge and to avoid getting swept by a rival.
“We beat them the first go-round, so now they’ve got to save face and beat us at home,” Sanchez said. “A&M’s good. They have a lot of returning riders from their National Champion western team last year.
“We’re going in knowing that this is going to be one of the toughest competitions that we have.”
The Cowgirls will ride against the Aggies at 10 a.m. in Freeman Arena, and in the meantime, Sanchez will use the target on the team’s back as continued motivation to improve.
“You’ve got to know that they’re gunning for you and want to unseat what you’ve done,” Sanchez said. “With that, you’ve got to be even better. You’ve got a target on your back, but now your only goal has to be distancing that target from your competition so it’s harder to hit.
“If that target is standing still, of course they’re going to hit that. But if you keep distancing from your competition, that’ll keep you where you’re at.”
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