The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 17 Soccer picked second in SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll
08.13.2024 | Soccer
Texas selected to finish second in inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Expectations for The University of Texas' women's soccer program during its first season in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) are sky high as the Longhorns were selected to finish second in the league's preseason women's soccer coaches' poll, the conference announced Tuesday morning.
Texas will enter the SEC led by 13-year head coach Angela Kelly, who previously coached at Tennessee prior to arriving in Austin, and returning United Soccer Coaches All-Americans Lexi Missimo and Trinity Byars. The Longhorns also return all 11 student-athletes from its 2023 starting lineup as well as adding back the 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year EmJ Cox, who missed the entirety of last season. Kelly also brought in the number seven freshman recruiting class in the nation, according to Top Drawer Soccer, and added graduate transfer Madison Haugen from Georgia to the defensive back line.
Texas, which won the Big 12 Conference's 2023 postseason tournament to cap its stay in the league, will play its first-ever SEC match on Thursday, Sept. 19, when the Longhorns welcome Alabama to the Forty Acres. A month later, UT welcomes the reigning SEC regular season champions, Arkansas, to Mike A. Myers Stadium on Friday, Oct. 18, before playing the league's 2023 postseason tournament victors, the Georgia Bulldogs, in Athens, Ga., on Sunday, Oct. 27.
2024 will mark the 32nd season of women's soccer in the SEC and when the season begins on Thursday, August 15, the league will feature a record seven teams ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25 poll: Georgia (14th), Arkansas (16th), Texas (17th), Mississippi State (18th), Alabama (20th), South Carolina (21st) and Texas A&M (25th).
UT begins the regular season portion of its 2024 schedule on Thursday, Aug. 15, when former conference foe Houston makes the three-hour trip west for a season-opening match that kicks off at 7 p.m. CT.
2024 SEC Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Arkansas
2. Texas*
3t. Georgia
3t. South Carolina
5. Alabama
6. Mississippi State
7. Texas A&M
8. Tennessee
9. Vanderbilt
10. LSU
11. Auburn
12. Kentucky
13t. Florida
13t. Oklahoma*
15. Ole Miss
16. Missouri
*First-year members of the SEC
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