The No. 16 team in the country, Texas Longhorns women’s soccer played hosts to Long Beach State in their seventh game of the season. The Longhorns came out with a feeling of confidence and introduced a high pressure with their forwards and midfielders early on in the first half.
Due to the high sustained pressure, early around the 11th minute, a recovery from graduate student defender Lauren Lapomarda and a breakout pass to freshman forward Amalia Villarreal allowed Villarreal to dribble deep into Long Beach territory and provide a well-timed through ball for a nice finish past the goalkeeper by senior midfielder Ashlyn Miller. The goal would prove to be the only one needed, as the Longhorns ended up cruising past LBSU 3-0.
Villarreal would continue to be the spark for the Longhorns’ offense with a center across the face of the goal, finished at the back post by senior midfielder Lexi Missimo claiming her sixth goal of the year.
Her second assist of the night brought Villarreal’s numbers to two goals and three assists in her young career.
“She’s a fantastic player, spitfire,” head coach Angela Kelly said. “She was whipping great balls in the first half … very purposeful in her crossing, very coachable.”
Missimo’s sixth goal of the season placed her into an elite group of players with 50 goals and 50 assists for their careers, as she scored her 50th goal tonight along with her 54 assists.
“(Missimo) continues to break records here at Texas,” Kelly said.“ Obviously, that’s a huge milestone.”
After a foul on the edge of the box, senior midfielder Jilly Shimkin would place the ball and set aim for the goal from about 20 yards. Shimkin would fire a thunderous strike into the top-right corner of the net, unreachable for the Long Beach St. goalkeeper, increasing the Texas lead to three goals midway through the first half.
It was a relatively quiet day for senior goalkeeper Mia Justus who only had to make two saves and was faced with just nine shots, only two of which were on goal. Credit also goes to the starting back four, a back line that was able to quell most of Long Beach St.’s attack that had scored a goal in four of their last six games.
“It was very, very solid,” Kelly said. “That’s a quality team, they do very well in their conference every year.”
The second half remained rather stagnant, with Texas continuing pressure in defense and attack but seeing no scoring. A performance that together was solid and maintained the Longhorns in good form.
“We definitely want to continue getting continuity and a great rhythm of play,” Kelly said.
The Texas Longhorns now set their sights on Houston Christian University this Thursday again at home at Mike A. Myers Stadium. This game will be their last non-conference game before starting SEC play in two weeks.
