Following a season in which it was crowned the Southeastern Conference tournament champions, Texas women’s soccer has taken a major step back.
The Longhorns are coming off a standout victory versus the No.13 Vanderbilt Commodores, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve had a poor season. Texas’ first conference win of the season moved its record to an abysmal 3–7–1.
Ranked No. 19 in the preseason poll, last year’s performance made it hard to envision a scenario where the Longhorns struggled this much. Yet here they are.
There are a multitude of reasons why Texas is not living up to its standards this season, with some more apparent than others.
Bad defensive record
The Longhorns have been the worst defense in the SEC by a wide margin, conceding 25 goals this season — eight more than the next-worst team. The majority of their problems defensively have come out wide.
For much of the season, head coach Ange Kelly has played a 3-4-2-1 formation, with the two wide midfielders functioning as wing-backs. As a wing-back, the player is tasked with attacking and defending, running up and down the touchlines of the pitch.
One of the players tasked with this role is freshman Audrey Bryant, and she, in particular, has struggled with finding the right balance in the position. She’s an attacker at heart, and because of that, has been caught out of position numerous times, leading to dangerous attacks from the opposition on many occasions.
Against Vanderbilt, Kelly shifted back to a regular back four, allowing Bryant to play her natural position on the wing, and it seemed to work, as Texas only conceded one against the Commodores. Perhaps that change should’ve been made earlier in the season.
Inexperience
The Longhorns are young. Four of their regular starters throughout the season are freshmen, including their co-top goal scorer, forward Ava McDonald. There were always going to be growing pains — the extent of them is more drastic than expected.
In many games, Texas has been competitive throughout much of the contest. But a common theme this season has been capitulation after conceding a goal. It happened against Mississippi State, when it was rock solid defensively in the first half, before allowing three goals in a span of 20 minutes in the second half.
The Longhorns are still learning how to deal with adversity.
Where is Amalia Villarreal?
It’s not because she’s performing badly, but because Texas isn’t giving her enough chances to shine. The sophomore midfielder is the star of this team, and, when given the chance, she puts together an impressive performance like she did against Vanderbilt on Friday night.
Villarreal leads the team in goal contributions with eight, but she’s capable of producing so much more. Kelly has talked about how teams are trying to take Villarreal out of having the ball, but with her significance to the team, you’ve got to get your best player involved by any means necessary.
Villarreal is a gamebreaker with the talent to strike at any given moment, and if the Longhorns want to turn the season around, they find a way to get No. 44 the ball.
