No. 22 Soccer’s second-half rally comes up inches short

Friday, October 4

Gainesville, Fla.

6 PM

University of Texas

9-2-2, 2-2-1

Florida

4-3-5, 1-2-1

Texas

Florida

Photo by: Matt Pendleton

No. 22 Soccer’s second-half rally comes up inches short

10.04.2024 | Soccer

Box Score

Texas unable to overcome early first-half goal by Florida

By: Chris Allen Brown

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – With their backs against the wall following an opening-minute goal by Florida, Texas was unable to find a second-half equalizer despite 11 second half shot attempts as the Longhorns fell to the Gators, 2-1, on Friday night.

Florida (4-3-5, 1-2-1) took an early 1-0 lead on a Lauren Donovan header off a Vera Blom corner kick just 85 seconds into the match. From there, Texas survived an offense outburst by the Gators that featured two shot attempts over a 10-minute span. UF added two more to its first half shot total with a pair between the 20 minute and 25-minute mark. The home team added a sixth shot during the first half with 12 minutes left before halftime.

The Texas offense was finally credited with a shot attempt when Amalia Villarreal took one during the 39th minute, but it was saved by Florida goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg.

However, the script immediately flipped once the second 45-minute stanza got underway.

Not only did Lexi Missimo record Texas' first second-half shot attempt less than five minutes into the half, but she was also rewarded with a penalty kick opportunity at the 51:24 mark after Madison Young took down Villarreal in the box.

But Missimo's penalty kick hit the left frame of the goal and bounced right back to her. The senior immediately put the loose ball into the back of the net, but the referees ruled her offsides as the midfielder could not be the first student-athlete to touch a missed penalty kick.

Over the next, 12 minutes of match action, though, the Texas offense continued looking for the equalizer as the Longhorns recorded four shots. However, despite not having a single shot attempt throughout the opening 20 minutes of the second half, Florida doubled its lead to 2-0 as Donovan, again, found the back of the net.

With time beginning to tick away, Villarreal took a pass from Missimo at beat a Gator defender to cut the Texas deficit to one goal with 13 minutes to play.

Over the course of the final 10 minutes, UT's offense took three shots as Villarreal, Missimo and Madison Haugen all tried to find the match-tying goal but were unable to.

MATCH NOTES

As a result of her goal in the 77th minute, Florida became the third different SEC women's soccer program that freshman forward Amalia Villarreal has netted at least one goal at least.
- Villarreal, a Michigan native, scored in the second minute against Alabama (Sept. 19) and then the eighth minute against Texas A&M (Sept. 29) prior to Friday night's goal.
By being credited with an assist on Amalia Villarreal's second-half goal, Texas senior midfielder Lexi Missimo now has 59 assists on her career, which is tied for 12th place on the NCAA Division I women's soccer career assist list.
- Missimo will enter next week's match against the Sooners tied with North Carolina's Lindsay Tarpley (2002-05) on the list.
With Amalia Villarreal's goal against the Gators, the Texas offense now has three different student-athletes who has scored five-or-more goals this season, marking the most since the 2022 squad had four different student-athletes score six-or-more.

UP NEXT

Texas (9-2-2, 2-2-1) will now return to the friendly confines of the Forty Acres for its next match when the Longhorns take on Oklahoma (8-3-1, 1-2-1) at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10.
- The match will be broadcast on SEC Network, marking the first home SEC match for the Longhorns to be broadcast on the network.
  - Earlier this season, UT played a 0-0, 90-minute tie in a non-conference match against then-No. 24 Iowa at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 25.

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