More than two months ago, the Texas soccer team trudged off the pitch at John Crain Field in Norman, Okla., with heads bowed and frustrations mounting.
The Longhorns had just suffered what would turn out to be their only shutout. The season seemed at a turning point, with a 4-3-1 Big 12 record accounting for a middling 13 points midway through conference play. Lexi Missimo, the team’s record-setting midfielder, knew the loss to the Sooners, of all teams, stung. But she and other players also knew the setback could serve as a rallying point for a talented but youthful team seeking some consistency.
More: On verge of NCAA Tournament, Texas signs eight women’s soccer recruits
“That game was definitely a turning point for us, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” midfielder Jilly Shimkin said. “Obviously, we want to beat our rivals, but it happened, and we had to move past it.”
Said Missimo: “We just locked in.”
The Longhorns (16-4-2) certainly have done that entering Friday’s second-round matchup against Big Ten power Wisconsin in Tallahassee, Fla. Texas has won six consecutive matches by a cumulative score of 19-5 since that loss, including victories over top-10 foes Texas Tech and BYU in the Big 12 Tournament. That bodes well for what looks like a challenging weekend; if the Longhorns survive their tussle against Wisconsin, they’ll face either another blood rival, Texas A&M, or top-ranked Florida State, which earned the right to host the next two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Regardless of whom they face, the Longhorns know that Oct. 12 loss to Oklahoma helped steel them for the taut moments that come in an elimination match.
More: Missimo’s brace paces Texas to 3-1 win over BYU and Big 12 soccer championship title
Shimkin also thinks that loss, which helped knock the Longhorns to a fourth-place finish in the Big 12, formed a bit more spine in the team. Last year, Texas faced little adversity in conference play and won the Big 12 regular-season title without a loss. But the Longhorns fell in the conference tournament semifinals and then in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Last year, we had done so great and we won every single game, but then we really didn’t live up to what we were supposed to do” in the postseason, she said. I think this could be the opposite this year, potentially. If we continue to kind of pick it up at the right time, we can keep coming together as one and really figure out what we have to get done on and off the field in order to succeed.”
Coach Angela Kelly, who’s in the last season of her contract, agrees. Now in her 12th season, Kelly thinks an attack led by Missimo and striker Trinity Byars, the school’s all-time leading goal-scorer, as well as a gritty defense backed by keeper Mia Justus can help the Longhorns reach the third round of the NCAAs for the second time in her tenure. She also says that loss to Oklahoma as well as hard-fought tournament wins over quality Big 12 foes will help out when the going gets tough.
“I think the last seven games, going through little pieces of adversity, we actually grew so much,” Kelly said. “Whoever we face, I think that’s where the BYU win and the Tech win come into play.”
.