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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mia Justus and Amalia Villarreal played key roles in Texas’ strong performance in four games last week, earning them Southeastern (SEC) Conference honors of the week, the league said Monday. It was announced in the afternoon.
Justus, the Longhorns’ starting goalie, was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career. This honor marks Justus’ third career Most Valuable Player award, having been named Big 12 Goaltender of the Week in back-to-back weeks on September 13, 2023 and September 20, 2023.
Justus, a member of the 2024 SEC Preseason Watch List, was between the pipes at Texas during the Longhorns’ 1-0 win over Ole Miss on Thursday, Sept. 26, for their first SEC win. He played a full 180:00 minutes. The Lakewood, Ohio, native then made five saves to keep Texas A&M off the scoreboard, recording her eighth clean sheet of the season, the fifth-most in the program’s single-season history.
Villarreal, a freshman from Lansing, Michigan, had the best performance of his career in Texas’ 2-0 win over Texas A&M. The 5-foot-2 forward scored the go-ahead goal just eight minutes into the game, scoring the game-winning goal for the first time in his career. Twenty minutes later, Villarreal’s on-break Ashlyn Miller got her first assist, beating the Aggie goalie and slotting the ball into the back of the net for Villarreal’s fifth assist of the season. Her 3-point performance against TAMU matched her single-game career high after recording a 3-point performance in Texas’ win at SMU earlier this season.
to the next
Texas (9-1-2, 2-1-1) will travel to Gainesville, Florida to face Florida (3-3-5, 0-2) on Friday, October 4th at 6:00 PM CT. (1 loss)
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