The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UCSB
Soccer knocks off previously unbeaten UCSB, 2-1
09.18.2016 | Soccer
Freshmen Cyera Hintzen and Tecora Turner score their first career goals to lead the Horns to victory
AUSTIN, Texas – On another blisteringly hot Sunday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium, Texas soccer (6-3-0) got the first career goals from freshmen forwards Cyera Hintzen and Tecora Turner in knocking off previously unbeaten UCSB (8-1-0), 2-1.
The Longhorns have now won three consecutive matches, equaling their longest winning streak of the 2016 season (previous was Aug. 26-Sept. 2 against College of Charleston, Detroit and Sam Houston State).
Hintzen's goal, just 9:38 into the contest, set the early tone for the Longhorns, while Turner's tally broke a 1-1 deadlock at the 64:35 mark. Texas sophomore forward Alexa Adams was credited with her second assist of the campaign on Turner's match-winning score and has now registered points in 12 of Texas' last 16 matches dating back to last season. Senior goalkeeper Paige Brown earned her fourth career victory between the pipes by making one huge save over 90 minutes of action.
The Burnt Orange & White led on shots by a 14-13 margin, and 5-2 in shots on frame, while UCSB controlled the corner kick category by a 7-2 count.
Texas wasted little time making its first foray into UCSB territory as Hintzen tried her luck from 19 yards out just 1:20 in but saw her effort venture wide left.
The Gauchos earned the first corner of the contest for either team during the seventh minute, but couldn't get off a shot as the ball was cleared away by the Longhorns defense.
With UT applying strong pressure, Texas jumped to an early lead at 9:38. Off a long feed in near the six-yard box, UCSB keeper Brittney Rogers, who entered the match with a 0.15 GAA having allowed just one goal in 600 minutes of action, tried to clear it away. The ball traveled right to Hintzen approximately 25 yards out and the Garland, Texas, native wasted no time in blasting a drive into the left edge of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Hintzen was everywhere over the opening 20 minutes of play as the rookie forward took Texas' first five shots of the match.
After the goal, the Gauchos settled into the contest and had the better of the run of play for a while with Amanda Ball, Sydney Magnin and Shaelan Murison all firing shots wide of target over a stretch from 14:02 to 20:06.
Adams came close to doubling Texas' advantage at 25:03 as the Lancaster, Calif., product saw the keeper off her line and tried a lengthy effort that just drifted left of frame.
During the 29th minute, Hintzen was at it again, taking control of a UCSB turnover and racing in 1-v-1 against Rogers. With a defender quickly recovering for support and Rogers racing off her line to cut down the angle, Hintzen's shot traveled right into the arms of the sliding keeper to keep the UT lead at just a single goal.
Brown was forced to make her only save for Texas during the 33rd minute, and it proved to be UT's stop of the match. UCSB's Ball broke into clear space just 14 yards out inside the 18 and fired a drive that Brown was able to deflect to her right before it was cleared out of danger.
Pressuring strongly late in the half, UCSB earned a corner with just 1:47 remaining on the opening half clock. Off the feed into the middle, Brown leapt over the crowd to make a catch, but collided with a Gaucho player and dropped the ball. UCSB finished what its thought was the equalizing score only to hear the referee whistle for a foul, negating the goal.
Out of the halftime break, the Gauchos picked up where they left off from a pressure standpoint, requiring only 1:53 to tie the match at 1-1. A ball played up the left wing to Magnin was eventually crossed into the middle of the 18 where Ball was waiting in clear space to finish easily from just seven yards out.
UCSB nearly scored again at 50:16 as Murison launched a shot from 19 yards out on the left side that traveled just over the bar.
From that point, Texas grabbed the momentum back with Adams drawing a foul in the 55th minute after being tripped just a yard outside the top of the 18. Off the ensuing free kick, senior midfielder Julia Dyche drove a shot that rattled loudly off the top of the crossbar before heading out of play.
The Gauchos missed another chance to nab the lead at 61:43 as an effort from distance by midfielder Chace Schornstein drifted just outside the left post.
The Longhorns finally broke the dead-lock in the 65th minute as Adams played a ball ahead to Turner. The Memphis, Tenn., product worked through three UCSB defenders and scored from 10 yards out on the left wing to make it 2-1.
Down the stretch, the Gauchos had opportunities to equalize as Magnin struck a header wide left at 70:04 and midfielder Dakota Griggs fired high on a one-timer from inside the 18 at 83:11.
From there, UT went into time-wasting mode with Hintzen and Dyche doing particularly solid work in the corners as the Longhorns ran out the clock on an important, 2-1 victory.
Texas Post-Match Quotes – vs. UCSB
Texas Head Coach Angela Kelly
On initial thoughts when the final whistle blew
My initial thoughts were that it was a hot Sunday in Austin and UC Santa Barbara is an incredibly well drilled, well coached and organized team. And Paul Stumpf has done a fantastic job. So those were my initial thoughts, so we needed to ready for a battle. We knew they were going to be really organized, and I'm just really, really pleased with the response.
On strategy for coping with the heat
Well I think when you're a high level player, you need to expect to play 90 every single match, even in the state of fatigue. So that's the mentality we build. Certainly there's different types of positions that if, if we defend properly that, that have to be a little more explosive in nature, and that would be our frontrunners, so you saw more frequent subbing up there. There's more of an anaerobic threshold for them. And then, really pleased... Julia and Katie in the midfield... I... don't think I took them off. I know Julia didn't come off so, that's a lot of work. Julia consistently covers a lot of space and a lot of yardage for us, and it's her senior year, so I'm just really proud of how she's commanding the midfield.
On tactical adjustments at halftime
Well I think we just had to reaffirm our shape and understand UCSB does a good job of dynamic movements, and they try to overload zones. Very similar to what we saw against Ohio State, Cal Berkeley. These types of... what we'll see against West Virginia. So we just kind of had to revisit everybody's role within our shape on the defensive side and then how we transition into our offensive attack.
On opening Big 12 competition next week
Well we're gonna enjoy Sunday evening with two wins on the weekend. And then, we'll recover. That's why we play our out of conference schedule is to prepare us for anything we might see, in the conference, and I think we've done a good job of seeing different styles, just even within this weekend, we saw two different styles in North Texas and UC Santa Barbara. That's what we're going to see in our conference, so I feel like our girls are gonna be well tuned, we'll get them rested and, we'll be ready and raring to go.
On the nature of the second goal for Texas.
You take into a lot of considerations that you have a team that enjoys the ball. They have dynamic movements, they're trying to pull you apart on the defensive side. It's 100 degrees on the second game of the weekend. So even if you watch... I mean, you could pull up, you could pull up an EPL, La Liga, you'll see the professional teams have a different line of confrontation depending on the situation or the period of time in the game or the conditions. So our players are content and understand those types of tactical decisions. But we certainly weren't wanting to sit back. We wanted to make sure that we made it hard for them to keep the ball and in the end, , our patience gave us a lot of turnovers so, that's just kind of a tactic of the game.
Freshman Forward Cyera Hintzen
On the team getting in a rhythm
I think we all wanted to start off strong and I think it's just... first five minutes she always tells us to go hard and get a first goal, and so I think we just wanted to start off strong and go at 'em.
On the feeling of scoring a first collegiate goal
It was amazing. I've been wanted to score for a while, ever since I got back on the field. But with the help of my teammates it was just a great feeling. It was a great goal.
On what a win against an unbeaten team means heading into conference play
Yeah I think it's a really good feeling when we're about to go into the conference and we go out with a win. I just feel that we all have a lot of confidence, and we're just ready to take on conference and beat the teams.
Freshman Forward Tecora Turner
On the buildup to a first goal
Yeah. I'm just really thankful for the pass from Alexa because it was, like, a perfect pass. I was able to turn and go, right off the defenders. I was just thankful that I was able to cut it around her and get it in. And I've been working with Paige on shooting, so that helped a lot too.
On what a win against an unbeaten team means heading into conference play
I think it means a lot, like it's giving us momentum to go into conference play and it's showing us that we can beat ranked teams. We can beat teams that are undefeated, and it's showing us how good we are.
On her goal
I think that's kind of the whole rhythm of being a forward, you have to wait for your opportunities to like... when you get the ball and you have to take it and when you can't, you can't. So, I was just thankful for the ball that Alexa played me because it was a great ball.
