Soccer preview: at Baylor

Match 12: Texas (6-5-0) at Baylor (4-4-3)

Time: Wednesday, March 31 – 6 p.m. CT

Location: Waco, Texas (Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field)

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

Free Kicks:

Texas enters Wednesday with a 15-9-4 all-time series advantage over Baylor, including 7-3-2 in Waco. In all, each of the last 16 matches in the series have been settled by one goal or required overtime. The two teams have already met once during the 2020-21 season as the Longhorns knocked off the Bears at Mike A. Myers Stadium back on Oct. 30, 2020, 1-0, on a fifth-minute goal from junior forward Cameron Brooks. BU out-shot UT by a total of 23-16, including 10-7 in shots on goal, but Texas senior goalkeeper Savannah Madden made 10 saves to maintain the shutout.

Texas' defense is currently riding a shutout streak of 216:01 dating back to Nov. 6, 2020, at Texas Tech.

Junior midfielder Julia Grosso is off to a strong spring start as the Vancouver, British Columbia, native has scored each of Texas' match-winning goals to beat Texas State (March 5) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 26). The Canadian international now leads the squad with four goals and 10 total points in 2020-21.

Lexi Missimo was named by Goal.com in 2021 as the No. 4-ranked player on the #NXGN list of the world's best wonderkids of women's football.

Julia Grosso has scored goals in consecutive matches on two separate occasions this season. She performed the feat for the first time ever in her standout career by tickling the twine against No. 7 West Virginia (Oct. 2) and Kansas State (Oct. 9) before doing it again against Texas State (March 5) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 26). Over the past two years, Grosso has scored 12 goals on her last 33 shots on frame (36% shot efficiency).

Senior goalkeeper Savannah Madden was honored for her outstanding play against Baylor back on Oct. 30 as the San Diego, Calif., native picked up her first career selections to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week and as the Big 12 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week. Madden tied her career-high by making 10 saves during the 1-0 shutout of the Bears at Mike A. Myers Stadium. She picked up her second career Big 12 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week accolade on March 29 after her five-save shutout at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Texas freshman Lexi Missimo registered quite the collegiate debut against Texas State back on March 5 by scoring her first collegiate goal (penalty kick) and dishing two assists for four total points in a 4-0 victory. For her efforts, Missimo was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Week and an honorable mention selection to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week. She joined fellow freshman Presley Echols as Texas players to score a goal in their collegiate debuts in 2020-21.

The Longhorns have won 31 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.

UT is 24-3-1 since the start of the 2018 season when scoring first in a match and 6-0-0 in such contests in 2020-21.

The Longhorns have spread the scoring around so far in the 2020-21 campaign as nine different Texas players have scored goals and 13 different players have tallied at least one point.

Senior midfielder/forward Haley Berg enters Wednesday having totaled at least one point in five of her last eight matches. She equaled her career-long point scoring streak of four matches by tallying at least one point from Sept. 25 vs. Oklahoma to Oct. 16 vs. Iowa State. She had previously accomplished that feat from Oct. 7-21, 2018.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics