The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Soccer duo earns SEC weekly honors
09.30.2024 | Soccer
Mia Justus, Amalia Villarreal honored after top performances as Texas picked up two victories
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mia Justus and Amalia Villarreal were key instruments over the course of Texas' successful four-game tilt over the last week that the duo earned Southeastern (SEC) Conference weekly honors, the league announced Monday afternoon.
Justus, the Longhorns' starting goalkeeper, was selected as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career. The honor is Justus' third career player of the week award after being selected as the Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week in back-to-back weeks on Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, 2023.
A member of the 2024 SEC Preseason Watchlist, Justus played all 180:00 between the pipes for Texas as the Longhorns earned its first-ever SEC victory with a 1-0 win at Ole Miss on Thursday, Sept. 26. Less than 72 hours later, the Lakewood, Ohio native recorded her eighth clean sheet on the season – tied for the fifth most in the program's single-season history – as she made five saves en route to keeping Texas A&M off the scoreboard.
Villarreal, a freshman out of Lansing, Mich., turned in a career performance in Texas' 2-0 victory over Texas A&M. The 5-foot-2 forward netted her first career game-winner with the go-ahead goal just eight minutes into the match. Twenty minutes later, Villarreal have the primary assist to a breaking Ashlyn Miller, who beat the Aggie goalkeeper and put the ball into the back of the net for Villarreal's fifth assist on the season. The three-point performance against TAMU matched her single-game career high after posting three points during Texas' win at SMU earlier this season.
UP NEXT
Texas (9-1-2, 2-1-1) will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to play Florida (3-3-5, 0-2-1) at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 4.
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