San Antonio, Texas — Before the players left the postgame huddle, Estelle Johnson sprung from the grass. They’d won 4-2 against Texas A&M, and Johnson, a junior defender, had to say something. No, she had to sing something.

“The people don’t believe in Kansas, but we’ve got a soccer team.”

The rallying cry comes from Halloween. Several teammates dressed up as the Jamaican bobsled team from “Cool Runnings” and decided to come up with their own catchy song. On Halloween, Kansas got smoked by Missouri 6-0. If some Tiger shots wouldn’t have hit off the post, the outcome could’ve been worse. The song was a bit optimistic for such a dark day.

Not anymore. Now they really can believe.

The Jayhawks had to beat the second-place and No. 11 Aggies for a second time this year to keep their season alive. They had to beat an angry team, a team that would’ve won the regular season conference title if not for the Kansas loss.

That defeat came a month ago. Kansas beat the Aggies 1-0 in Lawrence. Shannon McCabe scored the only goal. Before then, the Jayhawks had one other victory against A&M in program history. Now they’d have to win a second time this year.

It should’ve been tough. What Kansas had to do Wednesday would’ve been like a conference of mountain climbers forcing Edmund Hillary to scale Mount Everest a month after he did it the first time. Only this time, the mountain wouldn’t be too happy. It would puff out more blizzards and make Hillary slip on more sheets of ice.

As far as Big 12 soccer goes, the Aggies are Everest. Their media guide features four diamond-encrusted rings, symbols of the consecutive Big 12 titles they won from 2004 to 2007. The bling matches the athletic status. They get 3,500 fans or more for home games, and usually attract a legion of about 50 pre-game tailgaters ... to away games.

They have a 23,000 square-foot strength facility, and a training room solely for Olympic sports that features a Flouroscan machine and laser therapy. Yep, lasers. Who knows why the Aggies need those, but they sure sound cool.

They win, too. A lot. A&M has won 255 games in its 15-year history and hadn’t lost in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in five years.

Kansas is usually on the other side of the pitch, getting scoffed at by the power program. The Jayhawks average about 500 people for their big home games. They won a Big 12 title, a share with A&M back in 2004, but haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since. No one on this year’s roster had won a game in the Big 12 Tournament.

And here the Jayhawks were on Wednesday. Intense. Emotional. The Aggies were supposed to fume and stomp and obliterate the weaker opponent that upset them a month ago.

But Kansas was the aggressor. Monica Dolinsky leveled Aggies midfielder Beth West in the first half while going for the ball. She mouthed off to her afterwards. Then in the second half, she leveled another player.

It was all about intensity, Dolinsky said

KU’s first goal was fluky. McCabe rebounded a Dolinsky shot off the cross-bar into an open net, but otherwise, Kansas outperformed A&M. McCabe, Emily Cressy and Kortney Clifton continually bolted past the supposed top Big 12 defense.

This team’s been inconsistent all year. Kansas has beat solid teams like Texas A&M and Central Florida, and lost puzzlers to Nebraska and Loyola Chicago.

Now they’re in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament for the first time since 2004. They outplayed a team that was ranked in the top 10 most of the season.

That loss to Missouri and all the other struggles are out of their heads. Johnson’s message in her Halloween song remains.