The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Soccer set to return entire Starting XI for 2024
01.10.2024 | Soccer
All-Americans Missimo, Byars lead the Longhorns into the SEC with a complete returning Starting XI
AUSTIN, Texas – When The University of Texas women's soccer program takes the pitch for its first soccer match of the 2024 season, head coach Angela Kelly will have the luxury of returning her entire Starting IX from the 2023 campaign along with a top 10-ranked recruiting class in the nation.
United Soccer Coaches All-American Lexi Missimo and Big 12 Conference Forward of the Year Trinity Byars, both of whom have been a semifinalist for the Women's Mac Hermann Trophy over the last two seasons, have both opted to forgo the 2024 NWSL Draft and return to the Forty Acres for their senior seasons. Abby Allen and Hannah Waesch have all elected to exercise their fifth year of eligibility, while Lauren Lapomarda will return as a post-baccalaureate student. Mia Justus, Jilly Shimkin, Ashlyn Miller and Holly Ward are all returning to Texas for their senior seasons.
In addition, to each of the student-athletes who started for Texas in the Longhorns' Sweet Sixteen match against No. 1 Florida State on Sunday, Nov. 19, defender EmJ Cox, who was named the 2022 Big 12 Defender of the Year, will return to the pitch for Kelly and her staff after missing the entire 2023 season while rehabbing an injury.
Between Missimo (26) and Byars (18), Texas will return 63 percent of the Longhorns' scoring offense as the duo combined for 42 of UT's 70 goals scored last season. The two were also credited with 34 of the program's 74 assist (45.9 percent) throughout 2023.
Each of the nine previously mentioned upperclassmen started 17-or-more matches and played 1,650-or-more minutes last season: Missimo (24; 2,131), Shimkin (24; 1,792), Waesch (24; 1,680), Justus (24; 2,088), Byars (23; 1,728), Miller (23; 1,828), Lapomarda (23; 1,953), Allen (22; 1,833) and Ward (17; 1,652). Underclassmen Carly Montgomery (23; 2,029) and Breana Thompson (20; 1,598), who both started 20-or-more matches and played 1,575-or-more minutes on the defensive back line last season, are both returning as well.
The Longhorns' eight-member signing class — ranked No. 7 in the country by Top Drawer Soccer — features Amailia Villarreal, Rosa Maalouf, Chloe Shimkin, Lola Foley, Kendell Williams, Vivian Geesbregt, Cambry Patrick and Molly MacMillan. Villarreal is ranked as the No. 11 overall prospect by Top Drawer Soccer, while Maalouf is a member of the Canadian U20 squad that has qualified for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Shimkin and Patrick, like Villarreal, have both spent time within the USYNT system. Foley, Willians and MacMillian have all been selected ECNL All-Conference performers as well as earned multiple ECNL championships. Geesbreght was an all-state forward and midfielder of the year after a record-setting prep career at Southwest Christian School.
Texas, which captured its fourth postseason conference tournament championship in program history by winning the 2023 Sprouts Farmers Market Big 12 Soccer Championship with a 3-1 victory over then-No. 6 BYU on Saturday, Nov. 5, will bring its top-five scoring offense — one that averaged 2.92 goals per match last season, a figure that ranked fourth in the country — to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) beginning on July 1, 2024.
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