The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Friday, August 19
Austin, Texas
7 p.m.
University of Texas
vs
Seattle
Soccer preview: vs. Seattle University [Aug. 19, 2016]
08.17.2016 | Soccer
The Longhorns look to get the 2016 campaign off to a winning start while hosting the Redhawks
Texas Soccer Game Notes - vs. Seattle
Match #1: Seattle University at Texas
Time: Friday, Aug. 19 – 7 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas (Mike A. Myers Stadium & Soccer Field)
Tickets: LINK
Live Stats: LINK
Television: The match will be broadcast live on Longhorn Network (accessible through WATCHESPN with certain cable providers) with Glenn Davis (play-by-play) and Cat Whitehill (analyst) on the call.
Radio: Lincoln Rose will call the action for Texas soccer via an internet audio stream that can be heard for free here: LINK
Free Kicks:
- Texas head coach Angela Kelly enters the 2016 campaign within sight of a significant career milestone as the fifth-year skipper needs just ONE WIN to reach the 200-victory plateau. Kelly begins this season with an overall mark of 199-114-32 in 16 years combined as a head coach at Tennessee and now on the Forty Acres. Kelly enters the season ranked 51st among active head coaches in career winning percentage (.623), but doesn't yet crack the top 50 among active Division I head coaches in all-time wins (there's currently a tie for 49th between South Carolina's Shelley Smith and Radford's Ben Sohrabi with 222 wins).
- The Longhorns enter this weekend's match against Seattle holding a 12-9-1 all-time record in season-opening matches. UT is 3-0-1 during Angela Kelly's four-year stint as head coach and christened the 2015 campaign with a 1-0 win over Miami, Fla., in Mount Pleasant, S.C., as now graduated goalkeeper Abby Smith scored the match-winner on a 90-plus yard punt from goal in the 61st minute of action.
- Texas has faced Seattle once previously, earning a 1-0 victory over the Redhawks in Austin back on Oct. 23, 2011. That remains the only opponent that the Longhorns have ever faced from the Western Athletic Conference.
- The Longhorns erupted for three goals last Friday night in rolling past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in an exhibition match at Mike A. Myers Stadium, 3-0. Junior forward Olivia Brook scored twice and sophomore midfielder Katie Glenn added another as Texas out-shot the visitors by a commanding 21-3 total while also leading 11-0 in corner kicks. Three goalkeepers, Cara Connatser (started and played the whole first half), Taylor Braun and Paige Brown all saw time between the pipes.
- Over the four-season tenure of head coach Angela Kelly, if Texas scores a goal, there's a pretty good chance UT will win the match. Since starting 2012, the Longhorns are 39-11-6 in contests where they tickle the twine at least once and were 8-3-1 in such situations last season.
- Sophomore forwards Alexa Adams and Mikayla Flores will certainly be hoping to carry the momentum that each had towards the end of the 2015 season into the new campaign. Adams scored five goals and managed 14 of her 16 total points over Texas' last seven matches and has registered at least one point in six of her last seven contests, dating to the end of last season, including a six-match point streak. Flores scored twice and dished all four of her assists over that same seven-match stretch to close 2015 and enters the new year on a three-match scoring streak.
- The Longhorns are coming off an 8-6-4 season that saw the squad finish third in the Big 12 regular-season standings and reach the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals. UT lost 10 valuable seniors off that squad including such stalwarts as forward Kelsey Shimmick, midfielders Lindsey Meyer and Chantale Campbell and goalkeeper Abby Smith. In all, 11 promising newcomers (eight freshmen and three transfers) have been brought in to fill needs. Texas' original signing class of nine players was rated No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference and No. 15 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer.
- If the Longhorns needed any preseason motivational material, they certainly got it in the form of the Big 12 Preseason Poll. The league's coaches picked UT to finish sixth out of nine teams, garnering 32 total points to trail four-time defending champion West Virginia (eight first-place votes/64 points), Texas Tech (one first-place vote/57), Oklahoma (42), Baylor (35) and Oklahoma State (34 points). Kansas (30 points), TCU (22) and Iowa State (8) rounded out slots seven through nine.
- Dorothy once said there's no place like home. The Texas soccer squad takes that line from "The Wizard of Oz" to heart as in four seasons under coach Angela Kelly, the Longhorns have posted a 23-12-6 (.634) record in the friendly confines of Myers Stadium and are 18-7-5 (.683) over the last 30 home matches. Texas owns an all-time home record of 120-38-19 (.732) entering the 18th year (1999-present) at Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field. In the 20+-year history of Texas Soccer, the Horns have registered an overall record of 142-50-21 (.717) in all home games.
INTERESTING LONGHORNS FACTS
Check out some interesting tidbits on the members of the 2016 Texas Longhorns soccer team:
- Junior Morgan Murphy's grandfather (she calls him "Poppy") is legendary NFL coach Dan Reeves of the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos.
- Junior transfer Monique Iannella is Texas' first-ever player to hail from Australia. She's been a member of the Australian Youth National Team, the "Young Matildas." Perhaps even more interesting, however, are these facts: her mother had to drive her 10 total hours, 3-4 times a week when she was young to Adelaide so she could pursue her soccer career; she won multiple national championships in Australia in dance from 2000-2010; she was also an U-12 state tennis tournament champion, earning a junior world ranking in the process.
- Junior transfer Taylor Braun has a couple of celebrities in her family as she is related to the hosts of the popular HGTV show, Fixer Upper. That's right Chip and Joanna Gaines are Braun's uncle and aunt.
- Freshman forward Cydney Billups' dad is former NBA star and ESPN studio analyst Chauncey Billups. Her father played for seven different pro teams, but is most remembered for his time in Detroit, helping lead the Pistons to the 2004 NBA Championship.
- Freshman forward Cyera Hintzen spent time on the U.S. U-19 Women's National Team this past summer, traveling to New Zealand where she scored in a pair of matches against the U-20 New Zealand Women's National Team. She also scored a school-record 108 goals during her career at Sachse H.S. to set a Garland ISD record.
- Redshirt sophomore forward Mikayla Flores tore her ACL right before she got to Texas forcing her to redshirt during the 2014 season. She worked hard at rehab to overcome adversity and be cleared, eventually rating second on the team in scoring during the 2015 campaign with three goals and four assists. She had to have additional surgery during the spring of 2016 on the same knee, but is ready to go to begin 2016.
- Junior forward Olivia Brook proved to be quite the artist during her high school days, creating numerous portfolios worth of drawings/sketchings. Her work was featured on TexasSports.com last year, and the story can be accessed here: LINK
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