Chasing excellence with grit: Mia Justus
With one national championship under her belt at Florida State, junior transfer goalkeeper Mia Justus sees Texas as "not far off" from a national title.
9/29/2023
Junior goalkeeper Mia Justus won one national championship at Florida State University. She entered the transfer portal a year later and wound up at Texas, hoping to do it all again.
“Seeing what winning a national championship team looks like, being a part of one, I think Texas is not far off at all,” Justus said.
The Cleveland, Ohio, native attended boarding school at IMG Academy, later committing to Rutgers to play collegiate soccer, then decommitting and finding herself on a national championship-winning team at Florida State, and she adored it.
Seeing what winning a national championship team looks like, being a part of one, I think Texas is not far off at all.Mia Justus
For goalkeepers to be able to make a professional career in soccer, playing time is vital and at Florida State, Justus was splitting time between the pipes with another keeper. When a decision was made by the Florida State coaching staff to go with her teammate as the full-time keeper during the final stages of the 2022 season, Justus made her own decision and alerted the Seminole coaches of her desire to enter the transfer portal upon the season’s end, believing the decision would be the smartest move for her career.
What initially drew Justus’ attention to the Forty Acres wasn’t that she would get the playing time she needed to one day play professionally but the first conversation she had with 12th year women’s soccer head coach Angela Kelly.
“I got that first phone call from Ange,” Justus said. “I remember I was in the bathroom, and she called me a few minutes earlier than originally scheduled. I was nervous, but the way we spoke was so effortlessly. She has that effect. From then on, I had Texas in the back of my mind.”
Justus knew that if UT was on her radar, there would be no way playing with the name “TEXAS” on her chest wouldn’t be the best decision of her.
When the high-profile transfer started having conversations with Texas, the allure of those conversations was the family culture of Texas and Kelly’s coaching style, along with the second-to-none resources Texas offers because of the dedication and generosity of Longhorn Foundation donors.
“I think the family culture is what really drew me in, and that’s where I thrive under that style of coaching,” Justus said. (The coaches) treat everyone the same, which I was really attracted to, and the resources here at UT are obviously amazing and are second to none. I knew the team was going to be well prepared going into the season … (The resources Texas and the Longhorn Foundation provide) for injuries (and the technology Texas has), if the athletes had to do that on their own, I imagine we probably wouldn’t have as many athletes as we do here … Texas wouldn’t be Texas without donors.”
Justus expected that she would not only be joining a team that acts as a family, but that she would also be stepping in a program and university that would help her thrive as she continues climbing to new heights in her career.
What she didn’t expect was the sense of identity The University of Texas’ burnt orange would give her.
“Off the top of my head, I don’t think there’s any team – with the exception of maybe Duke – in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) that wears their last name on the back of their kits along with their university name on the front,” Justus said. “So, I knew having my last name being tied to The University of Texas on our kits, I would feel a sense of identity with this group of women on the field with me. It’s the same feeling of identity and pride every time.”
At Florida State, the now Longhorn was a marketing and business student, but as so much of her life changed, so did her studies. She needed an area of study that would allow her to thrive in two characteristics the goalkeeper believes she excels in.
Justus’ style of play as a goalkeeper is a vocal leader, almost like a pitch general. But yet off the field, the 5-foot-9 keeper describes herself as “reserved.” In the classroom, she describes herself as “improving,” a mark of her consistent stride towards excellence.
“I’m a little bit more reserved off the field than I am on,” Justus said. “Being a goalkeeper, you have to be demanding of your back line and the rest of the players on the field. I try to be as loud and helpful as I can. As a student, I’m improving.”
To accommodate those two characteristics, Justus now studies physical culture and sport, hoping to gain knowledge in the classroom of coaching that coincides with what she knows as an athlete.
“After soccer, something’s telling me I’m going to be a coach,” Justus said. “This university is prestigious, so if soccer doesn’t work out, I have a degree from UT that I’ll be able to fall back on that and be sound.”
Texas and its donors allow Justus to excel both at her craft and in her studies, which the junior attributes to the Longhorn Foundation. Since arriving on the Forty Acres in January 2023, Justus, who has been named the Big 12 Conference’s Goalkeeper of the Week on two separate occasions, has been credited with 41 saves on the season to go along with a save percentage of 80.4 percent. She also helped the team set a program record with six consecutive shutouts.
And as the weeks go on, Justus is expectant of her new team reaching a level of play equivalent with that of a national champion.
Against then-No. 6 BYU on Monday, Sept. 25, then-No. 14 Texas showed its ability to battle with those programs penciled into the NCAA Women’s College Cup. The Longhorns took an early first-half goal lead, before heading into the locker rooms tied 1-1 at halftime. After the Cougars took a 2-1 lead, the Longhorns answered back within minutes. The two powerhouses went back and forth until the 83rd minute, when the Cougars netted the eventual match-winning goal.
“The game against BYU, they were ranked No. 1 (in early September), and that game went the way that it went,” Justus said. “I don’t think we’re far off from winning a national championship at all.”
Texas has over a month before it closes out the 2023 regular season against TCU on Monday, Oct. 23. And Justus believes this is a crucial stretch to focus in on the fine details, if the Longhorns are to make a run towards a national championship. The details will work themselves out through practice. The details can be taught, too.
But the grit and determination the Longhorns display match in and match out can’t.
“The grit that we show when we’re playing is a reflection of how dedicated we are to winning,” Justus said.
And that’s why the Florida State transfer believes Texas is not far off from a national championship.
