Soccer earns clean sheet to begin the NCAA Tournament, advances to second round

Friday, November 10

Austin, TX

6 PM

University of Texas

16-4-2, 6-3-1

Lamar

15-3-3, 9-0-1

Lamar University

Texas

Soccer earns clean sheet to begin the NCAA Tournament, advances to second round

11.10.2023 | Soccer

Box Score

Texas earns sixth NCAA Tournament victory in Austin in 10th all-time match

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – An opponent can't win if it doesn't score. And Texas goalkeeper Mia Justus did her best to keep Lamar off the scoreboard as the first-year Longhorn was credited with her ninth clean sheet on the season in UT's 2-0 victory over Lamar in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

With her performance Justus joins Nicole Curry (11, 2017), Savannah Madden (9, 2021), Abby Smith (9, 2014) and Dianna Pfenninger (9, 2008) as the only Texas Longhorn goalkeepers to be credited with nine-or-more clean sheets in a single season in program history. Following her six-save performance between the pipes against the Cardinals, Justus is now four saves shy of tying Pfenninger's 2008 season total of 88 saves, which was good enough for 10th on the program's single-season saves list.

Of her six saves on the night, two came within seconds of each other after Lamar's Cariel Ellis and Trinity Clark were unable to put a loose soccer ball in the six-yard box into the back of the net because of the Longhorn goalkeeper less than 20 minutes in the match.

Thirty match minutes later, Justus, again, thwarted Lamar's best would-be scoring opportunity when she made a diving save to her left and put her left hand on an Ellis shot on goal to keep the Cardinals goalless on the evening. Justus went on to make two more second-half saves — four minutes apart — with the final coming at the 64:33 mark in the second half.

FROM HEAD COACH ANGELA KELLY

"In the end, it was a clean sheet. I don't believe we win that match without Mia Justus. Lexi Missimo was the hardest working outfield player and that's just a credit to her. But it's a 2-0 win and we are moving on. It's always tough to win a championship in the high that you get from that (Big 12) tournament final and (the first match) is always the scariest in the whole NCAA Tournament, in my experiences. I'm really pleased with the result and just really happy for the squad with the clean sheet and I thought Mia Justus was big time."

MATCH NOTES

By converting her ninth penalty kick opportunity on the season at the 20-minute mark in the first half, Lexi Missimo scored her first career goal in four career NCAA Tournament matches.
Friday night's victory gives Texas first round NCAA Tournament victories in back-to-back seasons since accomplishing the feat in 2007 and 2008.
The win gives the Texas Longhorn women's soccer program 10 all-time victories in 17 all-time appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
By setting up and earning the assist on Trinity Byars' first-half goal, Breana Thompson has now been credited with two assists on the season.
With the victory over the Cardinals, Texas has now won 10-or-more matches at Mike A. Myers Stadium in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2017 and 2018.
With her goal off a Breana Thompson throw in with less than three minutes to play in the first half, Trinity Byars passed Kelly McDonald (2001-04) to become the program's new leader in career goals with 47.
By earning the win between the pipes on Friday evening, Mia Justus has tied Dianna Pfenninger's single-season program record of 16 wins set during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

UP NEXT

· With the win, Texas (16-4-2) advances to the tournament's second week for the second consecutive season, marking the first time the Longhorns have won its first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons since doing so in three consecutive seasons: 2006-08.

o Texas will face Wisconsin (14-4-4) next after the Badgers knocked off Milwaukee, 2-0, on Friday night.

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