Brown picks up second shutout, third win as soccer edges North Texas

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — Senior goalkeeper Paige Brown turned in a pair of saves en route to her second shutout of the season, and an own goal was all the offense the Longhorns would need in a 1-0 victory over visiting North Texas Friday night at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Texas junior Morgan Murphy controlled an errant clearance pass by the UNT defense in the 33^rd minute and fired a shot that [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]deflected into the goal for the game’s only score. Murphy acknowledged that the goal was lucky, but said that she and her teammates were grateful for the end result.

“Everyone ahead of the ball did a really good job of creating chaos, and it came out,” Murphy said. “I knew I had to hit it one-time and stay over it. It’s unfortunate for them for things like that to happen but fortunate for us. We’re obviously happy that it went in the goal, and that definitely gave us momentum and an offensive mindset moving forward.”

The Longhorns outshot their guests by a slim 11-9 margin, including a 3-2 edge in shots on goal. Brown’s shutout was her third victory of the season for the Longhorns, who improved their season record to 5-3-0, while UNT fell to 5-3-1.

Brown admitted that while the game wasn’t the Longhorns’ most aesthetically pleasing performance of the season, all that ultimately mattered was the victory.

“For every game, a win is a win, and we just have to keep moving forward,” Brown said. “Getting another one under the belt with the girls, we just keep connecting and building our relationship on the field, so we just take it one game at a time and move forward.”

The Longhorns now have less than 48 hours to prepare for a 2:30 p.m. home game Sunday against UC Santa Barbara, which knocked off Texas, 2-0, last season. Texas head coach Angela Kelly said that in order for her team to collect its third consecutive victory, the Longhorns will have to play better Sunday than they did Friday.

“Paul Stumpf, the head coach (at UCSB), has been there for a long time, and he does a tremendous job,” Kelly said. “We had a tough battle against them last year. We’re going to have to get the ball on the floor and settle it a lot quicker, because UCSB is a very good team.”

Sunday’s will be shown live on the Longhorn Network.
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