In what looked like a game where neither team could score, Texas turned up the heat in the waning moments of the second half. The Longhorns scored four goals in a 14-minute span, finding their footing against a rugged Kansas State defense for a 4-0 victory.

The first half felt much like last Friday’s home match against Baylor, where the Longhorn offense looked anemic for much of the night. The Wildcats employed a similar strategy in defending sophomore forward Trinity Byars, doubling her on touch for most of the night. Although Texas took nine shots in the opening half, none reached the back of the net, leading to a 0-0 draw after 45 minutes.

“TCU had a tough time with (Kansas State) last week at 1-0. Everybody in the league is tough,” head coach Angela Kelly said. “Everybody’s game plan is going to be to double and triple team Trinity Byars.”

Graduate student goalkeeper Savannah Madden and the defense kept the Longhorns in the game early on, making crucial saves and foiling the aggressive Wildcat attack to give the Texas offense a chance to succeed.

“Write (Madden) up with as much credit as you want,” Kelly said. “She’s just consistent back there. I think we needed her distribution today and her decision-making playing out of the back. … She did a great job.”

Coming out of the half, the Longhorns made the necessary adjustments to jumpstart their attack, pushing the ball down the field with pace. Texas’ first goal came in the 68th minute, with senior forward Cameron Brooks hammering the ball into the right side of the Wildcats’ net to break the stalemate. 

Brooks followed up with a flashy second goal in the 73rd minute, using crafty footwork to flick the ball past junior goalkeeper Alaina Werremeyer. This gave Brooks her first career brace for the Longhorns, which was sorely needed in the absence of impactful sophomore midfielder Lexi Missimo.

“She’s been hunting for that for a long time,” Kelly said. “That was fantastic … really, really impressive. To get that (first goal) opened the floodgates, which was great.”

The game was won by Texas’ unrelenting attack, shooting 21 times with 10 of those being on goal. Brooks credited her team’s grit and effort for the win, something that was eating at the players after last week’s game.

“I think we really stepped it up, especially after playing Baylor. We showed up physically, and we weren’t going to take anything less than what they were giving us,” Brooks said. “Defense wins championships. We’re together, we’re a family, we’re gritty. … When things start to hit the fan, we’re going to be there.”

The Longhorns continue to show fight and further their push towards a Big 12 title, a goal that is at the forefront of the entire team’s minds. Texas plays again Sunday against Kansas at home, its last game in Austin until the regular season finale against Oklahoma.

“We knew that we weren’t going to let that last 45 minutes be the reason why we weren’t getting a ring this year,” Brooks said. “That motivated us, and we pushed as hard as we could, because that wasn’t going to be it for us.”