The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Thursday, August 19
Orlando, Fla.
5 p.m. CT
University of Texas
at
UCF
Soccer preview: at UCF
08.18.2021 | Soccer
The Longhorns head to the "Sunshine State" to open the 2021 season on Thursday against the Knights
Match 1: Texas (0-0-0) at UCF (0-0-0)
Time: Thursday, Aug. 19 – 5 p.m. CT
Location: Orlando, Fla. (UCF Soccer Stadium)
Tickets: LINK
Live Stats: LINK
TV: The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and can be watched online through this LINK.
Free Kicks:
- Texas enters this week with a 2-1-0 all-time mark against UCF, while the Longhorns will be facing off against Florida for the first time in program history. The last meeting between the Longhorns and Knights occurred in Chapel Hill, N.C., back on Aug. 24, 2018, as former All-American Cyera Hintzen scored twice, including the "golden goal" in the first OT, to lead the Burnt Orange & White to a 2-1 (OT) win.
- Texas boasted three players in the Aug. 17 release of the annual Top Drawer Soccer Preseason National Best XI Teams. Senior midfielder Julia Grosso earned a Top Drawer Soccer Second Team Best XI selection, while both midfielder Lexi Missimo and forward Trinity Byars reaped Top Drawer Soccer Freshman Best XI accolades.
- It took a little while to get rolling last Friday night at Mike A. Myers Stadium, but Texas eventually scored three times in the second half on the way to a dominant, 3-0 exhibition win over Abilene Christian. Freshman forward Holly Ward got the scoring started at 48:23, while senior midfielder Carlee Allen (65:17) and junior forward Sydney Nobles (82:08) finalized the output. The Longhorns' first two goals came off corner kicks, while UT out-shot the Wildcats, 18-5, including 14-2 over the final 45 minutes.
- Five of Texas' eight 2021 signees played together for Solar SC (Byars, Missimo, EmJ Cox, Miller, Stanley) under head coach Derek Missimo (Lexi's dad), while McFarland, Nobles, Claros, Lapomarda, Sydney Cox and Pace are also previous Solar FC products. Tatiana Fung grew up playing alongside Missimo and Byars on teams in both California and Texas, while Holly Ward was part of the same Vancouver Whitecaps program that produced Grosso, Regan and Akindoju.
- The Longhorns enter the 2021 fall campaign riding a three-match winning streak dating back to the spring season. In fact, Texas out-scored its three spring opponents (Texas State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Baylor) by a combined total of 11-0 and hasn't allowed a goal over its last 306:01 of official match action dating back to a 1-0 loss at Texas Tech on Nov. 6, 2020. Included during the spring was a 4-0 rout of Baylor (April 1) in Waco, marking the largest road win over the Bears in Longhorns history.
- Senior midfielder Julia Grosso recently made history as part of the Canadian Senior National Team's gold medal win over Sweden at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In helping Canada to its first gold medal, Grosso earned five overall caps (Great Britain, Chile, Brazil, United States, Sweden) and made the decisive sixth-round shootout penalty kick in the final to seal the extra-time title triumph over the Swedes.
- Julia Grosso also became the first Olympian in Texas soccer history and is now the first Olympic medalist in program annals.
- The Longhorns coaching staff looks significantly different this season as head coach Angela Kelly hired former Samford assistant coach Ben Munger and former UAB assistant coach Lee Hughes to replace departed assistants Keeley Hagen and Keri Sanchez. Hagen moved on to become the head coach at Colorado State, while Sanchez is now the head coach at Illinois Wesleyan.
- Texas is about to have both the 2020 and 2021 Top Drawer Soccer IMG Academy No. 1 national recruits in uniform at the same time as Lexi Missimo (2020) and Trinity Byars (2021) each don the Burnt Orange & White. The duo are longtime best friends (13+ years), having grown up together playing for Missimo's dad Derek as part of Solar FC.
- Julia Grosso will open the fall riding a streak of having scored in three consecutive matches for the first time in her career. The Vancouver, British Columbia, native tickled the twine in each of the spring 2021 victories over Texas State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Baylor. Over the past two seasons, Grosso has scored 13 goals on her last 34 shots on frame (38% shot efficiency).
- Texas freshman Lexi Missimo registered quite the collegiate debut against Texas State back on March 5, 2021, 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. Missimo soon followed that up by registering her first career brace (two goals) during the 4-0 rout of Baylor (April 1). She finished the spring with an impressive three goals and two assists over just three matches.
- 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.
- The Longhorns have won 32 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 25-3-1 since the start of the 2018 season when scoring first in a match and was 7-0-0 in such contests in 2020-21.
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