By James Schleicher, Publisher
AUSTIN, Texas — Just a few days removed from being named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, Haley Berg showed the accolade likely won’t prove a one-time occurrence. The junior midfielder/forward scored her third goal in as many games to help push Texas to a 2-0 win over Washington (2-2-2) in front of a crowd of 1,625 people and 14 dogs at Mike A. Myer’s stadium on Pups-at-the Pitch night on Friday.
“Washington’s a great team and we’ve been preparing for them all week, (and) having a shutout at home is always an important thing,” Berg said. “Especially since at the beginning of the season we kind of let a few goals in. We’ve regrouped, reset, and just performed really well tonight.”
In the 61st minute against, Berg pinged in the long ball [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] from senior Emma Jett from the top of the 18 yard box throughUW goalkeeper Dani Hensen’s legs to put Texas (4-2-0) on the board.
“I was like, ‘let me just get a foot on it,’ and I knew something would happen,” Berg said. “I started celebrating before I saw it go in, so I’m really glad it went in, because if not, that would have been embarrassing.”
By scoring her fourth goal of the season, Berg now sits tied with midfielder Julia Grosso for goals scored on the season, and she’s tied with senior Cyera Hintzen for assists (4).
In the 77th minute, Hintzen scored off of a bounce-back header to put Texas up, 2-0. Hintzen, freshman Teni Akindoju and a Washington defender fell to the ground after the play and stayed there in pain for several minutes after the play.
“It was a gritty challenge from Cyera Hintzen over there,” Texas head coach Angela Kelly said. “I think it was the defender, Cyera and Teni going up for the ball and the keeper was coming across. It was just [them] putting their body on the line and that’s all you can ask for: doing whatever it takes to score.”
The game played out to UT’s second shutout in a row, thanks to senior goalkeeper Nicole Curry’s play in the net and senior Atu Mshana’s defensive prowess on the back line.
“Our back line play tonight was phenomenal,” Berg said. “Atu Mshana does not [get] enough credit for any of the games, because if we did not have her back there, I honestly don’t know [how we would fair], because she’s back there saving us all the time. She reads the game better than anyone I’ve ever met. Her footwork is crazy, and she can kick it far with a purpose. Having her back there is a blessing because she’s too good.”
Playing under a full moon with the drums of the Austin Anthem supporters group banging, a large crowd cheering and a few dog tails wagging, Kelly also said the atmosphere felt special.
“I saw the Austin Anthem tailgating outside the stadium earlier,” Kelly said. “They’re starting a wonderful tradition, and 1,600 people, thank you — it made a big difference.”
The Longhorns continue play at home against Monmouth at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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