Texas soccer falls to No. 19 Cal, 1-0, at home

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — Senior goalkeeper Paige Brown collected six saves, but the Cal Golden Bears had seven shots on goal, and the one that got through proved to be the difference Sunday as the Golden Bears beat the Longhorns, 1-0, at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

With the loss, the Longhorns fell to 3-2-0, while the No. 19-ranked Bears improved to 4-1-0.

The Longhorns and Bears each [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]generated six shots in the scoreless first half. But after a Texas foul, Cal’s Kelly Fitzgerald fed Ifeoma Onumonu with a short pass into the penalty box, where Onumonu scored inside the right goalpost for the game’s only score.

Texas head coach Angela Kelly, while disappointed with the loss, said she believes the Longhorns will learn from the loss, both of which have been shutouts.

“Cal’s a very, very highly-ranked team with a lot of explosive players, and I think we organized our game plan,” Kelly said. “I was pleased with our discipline with the execution of that game plan and, against a team like Cal, you have to put a couple of those half-chances away. I think our players understand that, and we’ll continue to get better and better.”

For Brown, the start was her first of the season and second at Texas since transferring from Louisville. She said the Golden Bears’ goal, on a quick restart after the foul, should end up being something from which the Longhorns can learn going forward.

“I mean that’s just unfortunate, and you learn from it,” Brown said. “You’ve got to restart from it. It’s how the game goes sometimes.”

Overall, Cal outshot Texas, 15-10, and held a 7-2 edge in shots on goal. UT’s shots came from six different players, including senior midfielder Julia Dyche, who led the offense with four shots. Dyche and defender Monique Iannella each had one shot on goal.

After five games, the Longhorns finally will play away from home. They will play at Ohio State at 4 p.m. (central time) Friday and at Miami (Ohio) at 12 p.m. Sunday before returning home next week to face North Texas and Cal-Santa Barbara.
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