The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
College of Charleston
Soccer preview: vs. College of Charleston [Aug. 26, 2016]
08.25.2016 | Soccer
The Longhorns look to earn head coach Angela Kelly her 200th career win by hosting the Cougars
Texas Game Notes vs. College of Charleston
**Quotes from Wednesday's Soccer Media Availability are included at the bottom of this release
Match #2: College of Charleston (0-2-0) at Texas (0-1-0)
Weekend Tournament Schedule
Fri., Aug. 26
4:30 p.m. CT - Sam Houston State vs. Detroit*
7:30 p.m. CT - College of Charleston at TEXAS*
Sun., Aug. 28
11 a.m. CT - Sam Houston State vs. College of Charleston*
2 p.m. CT - Detroit at TEXAS*
*all four matches this weekend are slated for live broadcast on Longhorn Network
Time: vs. College of Charleston - Friday, Aug. 26 – 7:30 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 Jill Loyden (analyst) on the call.
Radio: Not available for Friday night's match against College of Charleston
Free Kicks:
- Texas head coach Angela Kelly remains within sight of a significant career milestone as the fifth-year skipper needs just ONE WIN to reach the 200-victory plateau. Kelly currently owns an overall mark of 199-115-32 in 16+ years combined as a head coach at Tennessee and now on the Forty Acres. Kelly entered 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 injury bug is really making its presence felt during the early part of the 2016 campaign for Texas. Potential starters in sophomore midfielder Kayra Dollas and freshman forward Cyera Hintzen currently remain day-to-day with lower leg injuries suffered in preseason training camp. And now, redshirt sophomore forward Mikayla Flores has unfortunately joined her teammates on the sidelines by suffering an ACL tear in her left knee during the Seattle match that will keep her out of action for the rest of the 2016 season.
- A pair of Longhorns seem to always be penciled in the line-up as senior midfielder Julia Dyche has earned at least some playing time in Texas' last 49 matches, while senior defender Isabelle Kerr has appeared in 43 of UT's last 44 contests dating back to each player's freshman campaign in 2013.
- The Longhorns will be facing off against the College of Charleston on Friday night for the first time in program history. UT is 1-1-0 all-time against members of the Colonial Athletic Association with a win over William & Mary and a loss to James Madison.
- Texas is coming off a season-opening, 1-0 loss to three-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Seattle last Friday night. The Longhorns out-shot the Redhawks by a 17-10 count, but only managed one of those shots on frame. The loss was the first in a season-opener for the Burnt Orange & White since dropping a 3-1 decision to Loyola Marymount in the 2011 lidlifter, the year before Angela Kelly took over as head coach of the program.
- Over the four-plus 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.
- 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-plus seasons under coach Angela Kelly, the Longhorns have posted a 23-13-6 (.619) record in the friendly confines of Myers Stadium and are 18-8-5 (.661) over the last 31 home matches. Texas owns an all-time home record of 120-39-19 (.731) 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 142-51-21 (.716) in all home games.
Quotes - Soccer Media Availability - Wed., Aug. 24, 2016
Texas head coach Angela Kelly
On this weekend's opponents College of Charleston and Detroit: Both teams know how to compete and both teams have some dynamic players, so we're looking forward to two tough contests.
On what she hopes to see differently in her team this weekend: Put the ball in the back of the net. We created 17 shots (vs. Seattle). We need to get a couple more of those on the face. Obviously, we have to have a ruthlessness and a killer instinct in the attacking third... that's something that we've stressed throughout the entire week. That's just having a mentality. We're pretty excited about creating more and more opportunities in the attacking third.
On approaching her 200th career victory and what it would mean to her: Oh gosh, it's another milestone. But to be perfectly honest, 201 would be just as important. I'm not one to talk about those types of things, and I appreciate the recognition. I just want to compete, win the next match and then you can ask me how important the 201 would be, and I would tell you it's just as important.
On the impact the seniors have on the squad: I think they are our leaders and are the core to this group. You want to be able to rely on your senior class, and I think this class is doing a tremendous job off the field and certainly giving forth all of the effort on the field and in training. They're definitely a connection of me when it comes to the team.
Texas senior midfielder Julia Dyche
On the team's early impressions of their two opponents this weekend: We know that we need to come out and be the best that we can be. They are going to be two quality opponents, so we just need to play the way we are capable of playing and we're excited.
On how the team has been preparing in practice: We've been working on our mentality and getting stuck in. We obviously weren't pleased with the result on Friday night, so we are just doing everything we can to change that.
Texas senior goalkeeper Cara Connatser
On her first career start last Friday night against Seattle: I've bled orange since I was born, so this has been a dream of mine since I can remember. Being behind Abby [Smith] over the last three years, I've been working towards making her better, but there's always been that end goal of not only playing, but helping this team get to our end goal, and that's to win a championship. So to have the first start, that was everything to me.
On what she's learned from Abby Smith: Wow, what haven't I learned from her? [laughs] We've talked about it a lot. I've known Abby since I was a sophomore in high school; we both played for the same club and she's a year older than me. The goalkeepers train together. Since I was 15 years old, she's said, "Get your butt down," or, "Get your hands together. Catch it this way. Catch it that way. Go up with your leg." I mean, there's so many different things. She was not only just a really good friend to me, but she was also part coach. So coming here and playing at Texas with her... everyday in practice I had two coaches coming at me: I had Jaimel [Johnson] and I had Abby. Both are extremely knowledgeable and amazing goalkeepers, so having Abby helped me out with that and having her text me and call me before and after every game to get pumped up and to go over our replays with me. She's been an amazing influence over me, and I miss her tremendously.
