Soccer preview: vs. Rice [Aug. 18, 2017]

Texas Game Notes vs. Rice | 2017 Texas Soccer Factbook

Soccer Match 1: Rice (0-0-0) at Texas (0-0-0)

Time: Friday, Aug. 18 – 7 p.m. CT

Location: Austin, Texas (Mike A. Myers Stadium & Soccer Field)

TEXAS CLEAR BAG POLICY: Please note that there is a new Clear Bag Policy in effect for fans when attending Texas Athletic events starting in 2017. For more details, please visit this LINK

Tickets: LINK

Promotion: The first 300 fans through the gates will receive a new clear bag, courtesy of Texas Athletics.

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 Kate Markgraf (analyst) on the call.

Radio: None available

Free Kicks:

The Longhorns enter Friday's match against Rice holding a 12-10-1 all-time record in season-opening matches. UT is 3-1-1 during Angela Kelly's five-year stint as head coach after dropping its 2016 lidlifter to Seattle on Aug. 19, 2016, 1-0.
UT and Rice have faced off on the pitch on four occasions with the Longhorns leading the series, 3-1. The last meeting between the two squads came in NCAA Tournament Opening Round play back on Nov. 14, 2014, as the Burnt Orange & White rolled past the Owls at Myers Stadium, 3-0, with then-freshman forward Olivia Brook scoring a goal and freshman midfielder Morgan Murphy dishing an assist. Texas is a perfect 3-0 against Rice at Myers Stadium with its lone defeat coming in Houston, Texas, back on Sept. 10, 2006, 1-0.
Junior forward Alexa Adams is always a threat to put up at least one point for the Longhorns offense, having totaled at least one point in 12 of her last 19 contests dating back to Oct. 9, 2015. The Lancaster, Calif., native has also registered at least two points in a match on nine different occasions with a high of four points in consecutive tilts at Iowa State (Oct. 9, 2015) and TCU (Oct. 11, 2015) back during her freshman season.
Much like her teammate Adams, redshirt sophomore forward Mikayla Flores puts up points by the bunch, entering this weekend's action having tallied points in six of her last eight matches dating back to the 2015 campaign.
Texas sophomore forward Cyera Hintzen was chosen as one of 11 players on the annual Preseason All-Big 12 Team, the league office announced. The Garland, Texas, native is coming off a 2016 campaign that saw her tally two goals on the way to earning the program's fourth all-time selection as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She was one of just three sophomores to make the squad.
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 eighth out of 10 teams, garnering 32 total points to trail five-time defending champion West Virginia (nine first-place votes/81 points), Kansas (one first-place vote/71), Oklahoma (57), Texas Tech (55), Baylor (47), Oklahoma State (38) and TCU (37). Iowa State (23) and Kansas State (9) rounded out the 10-team listing.
This year, the team has adopted the acronym RAMPED as the guideline for the 2017 campaign. The letters represent the words Respect, Accountability, Mentality, Pursuit of Excellence, Energy and Discipline, all facets of a championship team.
The Longhorns are coming off an 8-9-1 season that saw the squad finish ninth in the Big 12 regular-season standings and miss the postseason. UT lost five valuable seniors off that squad including midfielder Julia Dyche (led the team in assists in 2016, played in 65 straight matches), defender Isabelle Kerr (played 1,666 of 1,668 minutes in the back last season), forward Jasmine Hart (second on the team with four goals and nine points in 2016) and goalkeeper Paige Brown (started 15 matches in goal with four shutouts, 49 saves and a 1.09 GAA).
Texas had a tough time in close matches last season, posting just a 2-8 overall mark in one-goal contests, a 0-5 record in one-goal Big 12 tilts and a 0-3-1 mark in overtime matches. In fact, the Longhorns trailed for just 133:12 of 853 total minutes in league action (only 16 percent of the time) (trailed just 47:37 over seven combined league matches if you take out the road match at Iowa State) and went 1-6-1.
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 five seasons under coach Angela Kelly, the Longhorns have posted a 30-17-6 (.623) record in the friendly confines of Myers Stadium and are 25-12-5 (.655) over the last 42 home matches. Texas owns an all-time home record of 127-43-19 (.722) in now the 19th 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 149-55-21 (.709) in all home games.

INTERESTING LONGHORNS FACTS

Check out some interesting tidbits on the members of the 2017 Texas Longhorns soccer team:

Redshirt sophomore forward Mikayla Flores knows all about overcoming adversity. She tore the ACL in her right knee right before she got to Texas forcing her to redshirt during the 2014 season. She worked hard at rehab to 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, and then tore the ACL in her left knee just 22 minutes into the 2016 season opener against Seattle. She has again been cleared to play starting the 2017 campaign.
Freshman defender Peyton McGee's brother Jared McGee is currently a junior safety for the Northwestern football program. Last season he appeared in all 13 games for the Wildcats with three starts, making 36 tackles while nabbing three interceptions.
Freshman defender Erin Moudy was a member of the Lake Highlands (H.S.) "Wildcat Wranglers," a country & western dance and stunt team that performed at the Texas State Society's "Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball" in Washington, D.C.
Junior midfielder Amber Stearns is a transfer from Boston College where she played in 34 matches (1,616 total minutes) over the previous two years for the Eagles. She moved around nine times while growing up (father was a football coach, while her mother worked jobs with the military), spending time in Virginia, Kansas, Texas, Colorado and Germany.
Both freshman defender Natalie Weidenbach and freshman goalkeeper Bailey Dobbs have twin siblings. Weidenbach's twin is her brother, Jack, who's currently a freshman linebacker for the football program at Central Washington. Dobbs has an identical twin sister, Sydney.
Freshman midfielder/forward Emily Strouphauer trained with the youth academy at Olympique Lyonnais (2013) of French Ligue 1 in Lyon, France, and earned call-ups to the U.S. Under-18 Women's National Team training camps in Feb. and April of 2015.
Texas' leading scorer for the last two seasons, junior forward Alexa Adams, has been forced to overcome adversity of her own after tearing the ACL in her left knee 42 minutes into the home match against Oklahoma State last Sept. 30. She has also now been cleared to play starting the 2017 campaign.
Redshirt 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 defender Maddie Dorsett is the daughter of former Dallas Cowboys (National Football League) running back, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Super Bowl XII champion and 1976 Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. He finished his pro career with 12,739 career yards and 77 touchdowns. DORSETT ALSO COMPETED IN THE 100-METER DASH AND THE 4X100-METER DASH AT MYERS STADIUM DURING THE 2016 TEXAS RELAYS, finishing third in the relay with her Prestonwood Christian teammates.
Freshman midfielder/forward Haley Berg spent time on the U.S. Under-18 National Team, earning three caps during the 2016 Women's International Cup in Northern Ireland during October in a 2-1 loss to England, a 3-1 victory over France and a 3-0 shutout of host Northern Ireland. At a U.S. Under-18 July training camp at St. George's Park in England (July 6-15, 2016), Berg dished an assist on Team USA's opening goal as the Red, White & Blue tied England (2-2) on July 14. She also scored a staggering 64 goals in high school over just 15 matches!
Senior midfielder Morgan Murphy's grandfather (she calls him "Poppy") is legendary NFL coach Dan Reeves of the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos.
Freshman goalkeeper Savannah Madden was a part of three national championship teams before arriving at Texas. Two of those were with her Olympic Development Program (ODP) squad (2015, 2016), including stopping all four shots in a penalty kick shootout for the national title in 2015, while the other was with her ECNL team, the San Diego Surf U-15, in 2014. She was also called up to the U.S. Under-17 National Team training camp in Sept. of 2015.
Senior goalkeeper 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 goalkeeper Bailey Dobbs registered a staggering 27 shutouts in 42 matches played at Seven Lakes H.S., with goals-against-averages of 0.38, 0.17 and 0.73 from 2014-16.
Sophomore forward Cyera Hintzen spent time on the U.S. U-19 Women's National Team in the summer of 2016, 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.

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Players Mentioned

Alexa Adams

Haley Berg

Cydney Billups

Taylor Braun

Olivia Brook

Paige Brown

Bailey Dobbs

Maddie Dorsett

Julia Dyche

Mikayla Flores

Jasmine Hart

Cyera Hintzen

Isabelle Kerr

Savannah Madden

Peyton McGee

Erin Moudy

Morgan Murphy

Amber Stearns

Emily Strouphauer

Natalie Weidenbach

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics