On Sunday, the Southeastern Conference announced its soccer coaches’ postseason awards, and Texas soccer forward Amalia Villarreal claimed the title of SEC Freshman of the Year and a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. Villarreal is the eighth player in program history to win a freshman-of-the-year honor and the first to do so in the SEC era.
“Everybody’s grateful that we’re all stepping up and contributing,” head coach Angela Kelly said on Thursday prior to the announcement. “Amalia is leading in all the categories to be SEC Freshman of the Year.”
Villarreal’s season started on the bench for the first four games where she accumulated 176 minutes. While not starting, Villarreal managed to produce a goal and an assist while shooting the ball a total of 15 times.
Her willingness to be an attacking threat earned her a spot in Kelly’s starting lineup versus Central Michigan on Sept. 1. In this same game, senior forward Trinity Byars injured her knee and was later ruled out for the season.
“In that moment, we all were holding our breath,” Villarreal said “We wouldn’t ever want that to happen to any of our teammates. We all had to step up in our own way, and I’m just happy I could do it.”
Villarreal has since started every game, playing 80 of the 90 minutes six different times. The forward is typically stationed out wide on the wings where she can use her dribbling abilities to cause defense issues on any given night.
While the freshman is only 5 foot 2, she has an array of skills that allow her to be successful on the dribble. She is fast enough to poke the ball past the defender but still catch up to it and shifty enough to use a defender’s momentum against them, typically faking one way and going the other.
“Every dribble you want to be 100%,” Villarreal said. “In the times that I don’t (get past the defender), I think it’s really helpful with my teammates. They’re always encouraging me to be able to go again and not always remembering the downs.”
Aside from her dribbling, Villarreal is also able to impact games by either creating the chances or finishing them herself. In SEC play, Villarreal found the back of the net five times and assisted her teammates four times. Overall, the forward has seven goals and eight assists.
“I want to be able to create and give opportunities to my teammates, and if I’m in the position to score, then I can execute that,” Villarreal said. “Game by game, you have to take different things into account to be able to finish off the opponents.”
Villarreal’s season continues on Tuesday when the Longhorns take on LSU in Pensacola, Florida, at 2 p.m. Last time she faced the Tigers, Villarreal scored and assisted in a 3-1 victory.
“We’re using (the bye week) to get a good game plan going and mentally getting prepared for this tournament,” Villarreal said.
