Rally falls short as Texas soccer is eliminated from Big 12 Championship

By Steve Lansdale

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Freshman midfielder Kayra Dollas scored the first goal of her college career, but it was not enough to rally the University of Texas women’s soccer team from a two-goal deficit, and the Longhorns were eliminated in the first round of the Big 12 Championship by the Kansas Jayhawks, 2-1.

The loss ended UT’s run in the conference championship and meant [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]the Longhorns split a pair of games with Kansas this season; Texas won, 2-1, at Kansas Oct. 2.

The Longhorns outshot the Jayhawks, 15-13, and held a 7-4 edge in shots on goal. Senior goalkeeper Abby Smith collected two saves in the game.

Kansas jumped out to an early lead when Ashley Williams finished an assist by Tayler Estrada in the second minute. The teams played out the rest of the first half without another score — each team had five shots before the intermission — until the Jayhawks got the eventual game-winning goal in the 74^th minute when Jackie Georgoulis scored an unassisted goal off a rebound.

The Longhorns did not go away quietly, however, as Dollas cut the deficit in half in the 76^th minute off Mikayla Flores’ fourth assist of the season.

The helper tied Flores (who has 10 points on three goals and four assists this season) with fellow freshman Alexa Adams for the team lead in assists. Adams is the team’s leading scorer, with 16 points on a team-leading six goals to go along with her four assists.
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