A week after winning the SEC tournament, the Texas Longhorns eased past the Boston University Terriers in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 4-1 victory. The matchup consisted of not only a much better played second half, but a historical four goal performance from senior forward Holly Ward.
Despite having possession of the ball for 62% of the first half, the Terriers were able to grow into the game. This led to Boston breaking the deadlock after a cross bounced dangerously across the face of the goal. Terrier senior forward Morgan Fagan volleyed the ball towards the back post, giving the Terriers a one-goal lead.
After conceding the opening goal, Texas kept themselves in the game by playing a possessive style of soccer, eventually leading to a breakthrough near the 30-minute mark.
Senior midfielder Lexi Missimo crossed the ball from a corner that went straight to Boston’s freshman goalkeeper Bridget Carr who lost control of the ball, dropping it into Ward’s path. The forward poked the ball in, equalizing the game for the Longhorns before the half ended.
“(It was) incredibly important to score that goal at the half,” head coach Angela Kelly said. “That was a tremendous tap in down there.”
In the second half, Ward found her stride, especially with the pressure she felt from a tournament game.
“I’m going into every game and trying to enjoy it. … I want to go out and just do better than the last,” Ward said. “It’s a good pressure, because I have so much fun being here that I don’t want it to end.”
After recovering possession, senior midfielder Jilly Shimkin immediately found Ward going forward on the counter. Outpacing the Boston defender, Ward found herself in a one-versus-one against Carr, where she lifted the ball above the goalkeeper and found the back of the net in the 61st minute.
It only took 15 minutes for Ward to bring her goal-scoring performance from a brace to a haul. Finding the ball from graduate defender Madison Haugen’s cross, Ward took a touch past the defender and performed a clinical finish, putting the ball in the back of the net.
10 minutes later, in the 76th minute, Ward again faced Carr one-versus-one, rounding the goalkeeper and squeezing the ball in from a tight angle to seal her first career four-goal haul, and the first ever haul for Texas in the NCAA tournament.
“They had to find something in a tank that was absolutely depleted,” Kelly said. “They gave everything these past eight days in Pensacola, and they found more, (and) that’s what champions have to do repeatedly.”
The Longhorns return to action next Friday Nov. 22 for their second round matchup in the NCAA tournament, taking on the winner between Michigan State and Western Michigan.
