No. 11 Soccer preview: Alabama

AUSTIN, Texas – A new era has arrived on the Forty Acres and Thursday night will mark Texas' march towards conference championships as a member of the SEC as the Longhorn women's soccer program will be UT's first athletic program to play a SEC contest.

Head coach Angela Kelly, who spent 12 seasons in the league at Tennessee, will guide Texas into uncharted waters when her 11th-ranked Longhorns (7-0-1) square off against Alabama (7-2-0) at 7 p.m. at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

TELEVISION: Chris Sylvester (play by play) and Jessica Stamp (analyst) will call Thursday night's match inside the television booth for the SEC Network+ broadcast.

SERIES HISTORY:

Over the early stages of the Texas women's soccer program, the Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide squared off four times between the first-ever meeting on Oct. 9, 1994 and the latest on Sept. 17, 2000.
- During the seven-season span, Texas earned four victories in four matchups to take a 4-0-0 all-time record against Alabama into Thursday's action.
- Throughout those four matches, the Longhorns have outscored the Crimson Tide, 11-1, with Alabama's only goal occurring in a 2-1 overtime match in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Sept. 19, 1999.
  - Texas has never allowed a goal to Alabama in a match played in Austin, Texas.
Despite Texas head coach Angela Kelly having never faced Alabama in a conference-opening match, Kelly has an 8-1-1 record against the Crimson Tide during her time at Tennessee.
- The record includes a nine-match unbeaten streak from Oct. 7, 2001 to Oct. 24, 2010.

KICKING OFF

The University of Texas women's soccer program will enter Thursday night's action riding a 13-match unbeaten streak at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
- The streak began with a 0-0, 90-minute tie against West Virginia on Sept. 28, 2023 and has extended to double digits as a result of the Longhorns not dropping any of their seven home non-conference matches to begin this season.
  - The current 13-match home unbeaten streak is tied for the longest under head coach Angela Kelly, who guided Texas to 13 consecutive homes matches without a loss from Aug. 23, 2023 to Sept. 7, 2014.
- Additionally, the ongoing 13-match home unbeaten streak is tied for the fifth longest such streak in program history:
  - 21 (Aug. 31, 2007 to Oct. 31, 2008)
  - 15 (Oct. 2, 2009 to Oct. 22, 2010)
  - 15 (Nov. 4, 2001 to Oct. 12, 2003)
  - 14 (Aug. 29, 2004 to Aug. 28, 2005)
  - 13 (Aug. 23, 2023 to Sept. 7, 2014)
  - 13 (Sept. 28, 2023 to Present)
- The active streak is also one of just nine home unbeaten streaks of at least 10-or-more matches.
Heading into Thursday evening's conference opener, Texas head coach Angela Kelly has an all-time record of 15-6-3 (687.) in conference-opening contests between her time at Tennessee (2000-11) and Longhorns' time in the Big 12 since her arrival on the Forty Acres.
- Big 12: 8-2-2
- SEC: 7-4-1
Alabama will be the first women's soccer program to visit the Forty Acres to play Texas since LSU on Aug. 24, 2023.
- Prior to that matchup, Texas A&M came to Austin for a first-round matchup to begin the 2022 NCAA Tournament on Nov. 11, 2022, when Texas knocked off the Aggies, 3-1.
In matches in Austin, Texas against soccer programs from east of the Mississippi River, head coach Angela Kelly has a record of 14-8-4 (.615) during her time at the helm of the Longhorns.
- Kelly and Texas are unbeaten in their last six consecutive such matches and haven't dropped a contest to a program east of the 2,340-mile river since playing then-No. 1 North Carolina on Aug. 25, 2022.
Texas will enter SEC play having allowed just four goals throughout eight non-conference matches, a span of 720:00 minutes.
- Of those four goals, only one has occurred over the course of 630:00 of game action at Mike A. Myers Stadium
- The Longhorns, through eight matches this season, have only trailed for 2 minutes and 20 seconds after San Diego State scored a goal 3:28 into a match on Thursday, Sept. 5. But freshman Amalia Villarreal tied the match at the 5:48 mark.

FOLLOW US

For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TexasLonghorns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Amalia Villarreal

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics