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AUSTIN, Texas – A new era is upon us on the Forty Acres as Thursday night marks a monumental day for Texas as it advances toward a conference championship as a member of the SEC, with the Longhorns women’s soccer program becoming the school’s first athletic program to compete in the SEC Tournament.
Head coach Angela Kelly, who spent 12 seasons at Tennessee, will lead Texas into uncharted territory when the 11th-ranked Longhorns (7-0-1) take on Alabama (7-2-0) at 7 p.m. at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
TV: Chris Sylvester (play-by-play) and Jessica Stamp (commentary) will be inside the television booth covering Thursday night’s game on the SEC Network+ broadcast.
Series History:
In the early days of the Texas women’s soccer team, the Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide have met four times, from their first meeting on Oct. 9, 1994 to their most recent meeting on Sept. 17, 2000. During that seven-season span, Texas has won four of those meetings and enters Thursday’s game with a 4-0-0 record against Alabama. In those four meetings, the Longhorns have outshot the Crimson Tide 11-1, with Alabama’s lone point coming in a two-goal overtime game on Sept. 19, 1999 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Texas has never allowed Alabama to score a point in the game played in Austin, Texas. Despite never facing Alabama in a conference opener, Texas head coach Angela Kelly has an 8-1-1-1 record against the Crimson Tide during her time at Tennessee, including a nine-game unbeaten streak from Oct. 7, 2001 to Oct. 24, 2010.
kick off
The University of Texas women’s soccer team enters Thursday night’s game at Mike A. Myers Stadium with a 13-game unbeaten streak. The streak began with a 0-0 90-minute draw against West Virginia on Sept. 28, 2023, and has since grown to double digits as the Longhorns have not lost a single game in their first seven home non-conference games of the season. The current 13-game unbeaten home streak is tied for the longest under head coach Angela Kelly, who led Texas to a 13-game unbeaten home streak from Aug. 23, 2023 to Sept. 7, 2014. Additionally, the ongoing 13-game unbeaten home streak is also the fifth-longest in program history. 21 (August 31, 2007 to October 31, 2008), 15 (October 2, 2009 to October 22, 2010), 15 (November 4, 2001 to October 12, 2003), 14 (August 29, 2004 to August 28, 2005), 13 (August 23, 2023 to September 7, 2014) and 13 (September 28, 2023 to present). This unbeaten streak is also one of only nine streaks in which the team has gone 10 or more home games unbeaten. Heading into Thursday night’s conference opener, Texas head coach Angela Kelly has a career record of 15 wins, 6 losses and 3 ties (687) in conference openers since her time at Tennessee (2000-2011) and during the Longhorns’ time in the Big 12 since arriving in the Forty Acres. Alabama will be the first women’s soccer team to visit the Forty Acres to face Texas since LSU on Aug. 24, 2023. Prior to that matchup, Texas A&M University traveled to Austin on Nov. 11, 2022 for a first-round matchup to open the 2022 NCAA Tournament, where Texas defeated the Aggies, 3-1. In games against soccer teams from east of the Mississippi River in Austin, Texas, head coach Angela Kelly has a career record of 14 wins, 8 losses and 4 ties (.615 winning percentage) during her time at the helm of the Longhorns. Coach Kelly and Texas are unbeaten in their last six straight games and have not lost a game against a team 2,340 miles east of the Mississippi River since playing then-No. 1 ranked North Carolina on Aug. 25, 2022. Texas enters the SEC game having allowed just four goals in eight non-conference games played in 720 minutes. Of those four goals, just one came in 630 minutes played at Mike A. Myers Stadium. In eight games this season, the Longhorns have only led for 2:20 since San Diego State scored a goal 3:28 into the game on Thursday, Sept. 5. But freshman Amalia Villarreal tied the game at 5:48.
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