No. 18 Soccer caps Thursday night’s action with Byars’ fourth hat trick

Thursday, August 31

Austin, TX

7 PM

University of Texas

4-1-0, 0-0-0

UTRGV

1-3-0, 0-0-0

UTRGV

Texas

No. 18 Soccer caps Thursday night’s action with Byars’ fourth hat trick

08.31.2023 | Soccer

Box Score

Eleven days after tying the program record, Trinity Byars nets program-record fourth career hat trick on Thursday night

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, TX – When Trinity Byars recorded a hat trick against Rice on Aug. 20, 2023, and tied the Texas program record for career hat tricks, it became a matter of when, not if the Richardson, Texas native would break the record. Eleven days later, the record belongs to Byars outright as the junior forward polished off her fourth career hat trick in a nine-minute frame during the first half of the Longhorns' 5-0 win over UTRGV on Thursday night.

The historic moment began developing at the five-minute mark when Byars brought down a chip pass from Lexi Missimo and sent a shot into the back of the net when 10 yards out. Less than six minutes later, Missimo was attacking the left six of the 18-yard box, forcing UTRGV goalkeeper Emma Lööv to protect the left post and allowing a wide-open passing lane to Byars two steps inside the 6-yard box.

The record-breaking goal was a bit more eventful as Lööv came out of goal to try to snag a Missimo chip to Byars atop the 6-yard box. But as Lööv fell to the ground, the ball became loose and Byars connected with her left foot and send the ball into the back of the net for her 38th career goal, eight back of tying Kelly McDonald's program record.

FROM HEAD COACH ANGELA KELLY

"I don't think I'll ever get bored of being a broken record in regard to (talking about Trinity Byars' accomplishments). She just finds open spaces and her teammates look for her and she's just clinical with her finishes."

FROM JUNIOR FORWARD TRINITY BYARS

"(Tonight) all kind of happened so fast, really. Our midfielders continue to just put me in great scoring positions with their passes, so I can just tap the ball in for a goal. I mean, yeah, (having the program record) is pretty cool, but I feel it's nothing something that you really dwell on. It's a pretty cool accomplishment to have, but we just have to keep going (and focus on our season).

MATCH NOTES

With her six points on the evening, junior forward Trinity Byars passed Kelsey Carpenter (2004-07) for third place on the Longhorns' career points leaderboard.
- Byars will enter Sunday's match against SMU just 12 points back of passing Kelly McDonald (2001-04) for second place.
Texas junior midfielder Lexi Missimo tied her career high for assists in a single match as the Southlake native was credited with four on the evening.
- Missimo also had four assists against Oklahoma on Sept. 26, 2021, when the midfielder was just a true freshman.
As a result of her four-assist performance against UTRGV on Thursday night, Lexi Missimo will enter Sunday afternoon's contest against SMU needing just two more assists to pass Kelly Wilson (2001-04) to become the program's new all-time leader in career assist.
With her first assist on Trinity Byars' first goal of the evening, junior midfielder Lexi Missimo became the first student-athlete in program history to be credited with an assist in five consecutive matches.
Lexi Missimo's four assists against UTRGV tied the program's single-match assist record, which was last reached on Sept. 26, 2021, when Missimo accomplished the feat against Oklahoma.
- Missimo becomes the only student-athlete in program history to be credited with multiple four-assist matches during their Longhorn career.

UP NEXT

Having now won four matches on the season, Texas (4-1-0) will look for its fifth victory to begin the 2023 season when the Longhorns host SMU (2-1-0) at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2.
- The Mustangs have snagged wins over Stephen F. Austin (3-1) and Tennessee (2-1) over the last five days to setup Sunday's showdown with the Longhorns.

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