by Fort Worth, TX – All eyes were upon Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium last night as the Texas Longhorns rode into town to take down the No. 19 TCU Horned Frogs, earning their first ranked win under new head coach Margueritte Bates.
The Rundown
Like anytime these two juggernauts face off, the game started at a stalemate with both sides trading blows quickly. The first attacking attempt coming from the Frogs as Grace Vest chased down an errant corner kick and worked her way through defenders, putting a shot on goal that was foiled by Longhorns’ keeper Bayliss Flynn. The response from Texas was quick as Ava McDonald was on the receiving end of Flynn’s drop-kick which put her behind the defensive line and in space, but TCU goalie Olivia Geller held her ground and put an end to the attack of McDonald for the moment. Both teams then traded possession in the middle of the field with the next shot not coming for nearly 20 minutes off the foot of Texas’ Ashlyn Anderson, then another shortly after by Sadie Hoch on a free kick after TCU’s Mackenzie Hilderman was shown a yellow card. The Horns would go on to take six more shots and take the momentum into the locker room, leaving the Frogs looking for answers as they were only able to manage one shot in comparison to Texas’ nine in the first half.
Coming out of the locker room, it seemed as if the Frogs had found a new spark with Bella Diorio taking their first shot in nearly 40 minutes, but just like the previous time, Flynn was there to collect without a problem. The Horns would continue to outshoot the Frogs, taking eight shots in the second half to TCU’s five. The decisive strike came in the 67th minute when McDonald collected a cleared Longhorn corner kick around the 18-yard box. She gathered her feet and hammered the ball into the top right corner of the net, just out of reach of the diving Geller. The Frogs would go on to outshoot the Horns four to one over the remainder of the match, but the late pressure wasn’t enough to find an equalizer. Texas goalkeeper Flynn posted four saves in the victory, guiding the Longhorns to their fifth clean sheet in seven matches.
What’s Next
The Longhorns (5-1-1) will open up SEC play on the road at Arkansas (2-3-1) this Thursday at 8 p.m. The Frogs (3-2-1) will take a 10-day break from playing before opening Big 12 play in Stillwater as they take on Oklahoma State (3-2-2) on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
