Soccer preview: at TCU

Match 2: Texas (0-1-0) at TCU (0-0-1)

Time: Friday, Sept. 18 – 7 p.m. CT

Location: Fort Worth, Texas (Garvey Rosenthal Soccer Stadium)

Tickets: TCU is not selling or issuing tickets to fans for the 2020 season

Live Stats: LINK

TV: The match will be broadcast live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and can be watched online through this LINK.

Free Kicks:

The Longhorns maintain a 9-5-3 all-time advantage in their series against TCU, but are just 3-5-3 against the Horned Frogs dating back to Aug. 21, 2009. UT is also 3-4-0 in Fort Worth, having lost each of its last four road match-ups. Last season, Texas knocked off TCU in the regular season in Austin, 1-0, before falling on PK's after a 0-0 (2OT) tie in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals.

Texas enters Friday's match at TCU having won four straight Big 12 Conference road contests dating back to the start of the 2019 league campaign (went 4-0 in league road matches last season).

The Longhorns have won 28 consecutive matches in which they scored two-or-more goals in a contest dating back to the start of the 2017 season. The last time Texas failed to win when tickling the twine on two occasions was in a 3-2 defeat at TCU back on Oct. 28, 2016.

Texas enters Friday with an 11-14-1 overall record in true road openers and a 3-5-0 mark in such contests under the guidance of head coach Angela Kelly. UT is 3-2-3 under Kelly in Big 12 Conference road openers and hasn't lost a Big 12 road opener since 2015 (1-0-3 over the span from 2016-19).

Texas holds a 24-21-3 overall record in matches following a loss (that total doesn't carry over losses from end of a season to the next) under the guidance of head coach Angela Kelly.

Texas is 18-3-1 since the start of the 2018 season when scoring first in a match.

After going just 2-8 in one-goal matches back in 2016, the Longhorns have since turned around their fortunes in such contests by going 25-13 in their last 38 one-goal matches since beginning 2017.

Once again this season, the Texas soccer program has adopted the acronym RAMPED as the guideline for the campaign. The letters represent the words Respect, Accountability, Mentality, Pursuit of Excellence, Energy and Discipline, all facets of a championship team.

Fans and opponents better watch out for Texas' dynamic duo of senior midfielder Haley Berg (eight goals, nine assists in 2019) and junior midfielder Julia Grosso (eight goals, eight assists in 2019). The pair combined for 16 of Texas' 35 goals (46%), 17-of-38 assists (45%) and 49-of-108 total points (45%) during the 2019 campaign.

Texas junior midfielder Julia Grosso was tabbed to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team for the second straight season. The 11-member squad is chosen each year by a vote of the league's coaches.

The Longhorns have been picked to finish FIFTH in the annual preseason Big 12 coaches poll. UT received 50 total points to trail Texas Tech (six first-place votes, 72 points), Oklahoma State (three first-place votes, 70 points), TCU (55 points) and West Virginia (54 points) in the standings. Texas finished last season third overall in the league.

UT returns 17 letter winners from last fall's 11-8-1 squad that advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Those returnees combined to account for 25-of-35 goals (71%), 30-of-38 total assists (79%) and 80-of-108 total points (74%) during the 2019 season as well as all 11 goalkeeping wins and seven shutouts between the pipes (goalkeepers Nicole Curry and Savannah Madden). Included among the numerous standouts back are 2019 United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-American midfielder Julia Grosso (eight goals, eight assists), and 2019 All-Big 12 Conference selections midfielder/forward Haley Berg (eight goals, nine assists) and defender Emma Regan (20 starts, two assists, part of seven defensive shutouts).

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics