Texas soccer will have to regroup once again after its second consecutive loss and its second loss at home this season, after a back-and-forth 3-2 loss against former Big 12 rivals, the TCU Horned Frogs.
“I’m really proud of our squad,” head coach Ange Kelly said postgame. “We have a young team and that’s the fourth team in the country, and we went toe-to-toe.”
With a tough loss over the weekend, the Longhorns got out to an early start for the second game in a row after pressing TCU’s backline high up the field from their attackers, forcing a handball inside the box from a Horned Frogs defender and giving Texas a penalty kick.
With a golden opportunity to get onto the scoreboard early within the first 10 minutes, sophomore forward Amalia Villarreal slotted it past the Horned Frog’s goalkeeper, scoring her third goal of the season and giving the Longhorns the early lead.
However, mirroring Sunday’s loss to the Houston Cougars, the Longhorns relinquished the lead once more after being the first goal scorers of the game. After the Longhorns surrendered a free kick in their own defensive end, they set up a dangerous set piece for the Horned Frogs’ attack, which they converted from.
When the free kick from senior forward AJ Hennessey was whipped to the back post, and found sophomore midfielder Morgan Brown, who headered a ball into a dangerous spot inside the six-yard box, which found another header from freshman midfielder Kamdyn Fuller to equalize the game.
With the game on the brink of halftime, it was the Horned Frogs that found a breakthrough, taking a lead into halftime. A slick move inside the box from junior midfielder Marli Galdamez forced a save from the Longhorns’ freshman goalkeeper Mateya Dessieux. However, the ball lingered inside the box and was finished by sophomore midfielder Kaela Martinez to give TCU the lead.
Instead of capitulating and conceding further goals, the Longhorns stood firm and fought their way back to tie the game early in the second half. After a corner kick into the box and a scramble for the ball, junior defender Carly Montgomery made an instant impact after being subbed on, possessing the ball and taking a shot that found the back of the net.
“She’s one of the more veteran players, but still young,” Kelly said about Montgomery after the game. “She’s done those types of things before, and really, it was an important equalizer.”
TCU found the winner late from another set piece, this time from a looping corner into the box after Fuller found Brown at the back stick, with a header that squeezed past the Longhorns’ goalkeeper for the victory-clinching goal.
“With that type of performance, that’s a performance you take into the SEC, and you’re excited about that,” Kelly said.
The Longhorns won’t have long to dwell on the loss, as the squad returns to Mike A. Meyers Stadium to take on Charleston on Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. CT.
