Texas soccer kicks off 2017 season with 2-1 win over Rice

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas soccer team got first-half goals from freshman midfielder Haley Berg and sophomore forward Cyera Hintzen, and the Longhorns held on to beat Rice, 1-0, at Mike A. Myers Stadium in the season opener for each team.

Berg’s goal came just [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]25 seconds after the opening kickoff, when she converted assists by Hintzen and sophomore forward Mikayla Flores into one of the fastest goals to start a game in UT history.

“I just think we knew that we had to come out with a hard mentality,” Berg said of her team’s fast start. “We knew from the kickoff that Rice was going to be a really hard opponent, so we just started off fast. Cyera (Hintzen) had a great cross, Mik (Mikayla Flores) was right there, and she laid it off and just made it easy for me.”

Texas head coach Angela Kelly said she hopes Berg’s quick goal is an indication of the future for the dynamic offensive duo.

“The goal from Haley, just 25 seconds in, is pretty special for a freshman to step in, and that was a great ball in by Cyera Hintzen,” Kelly said. “That’s going to be a special combination going forward.”

Hintzen then doubled the Longhorns’ edge in the 37^th minute when she buried a pass from Cydney Billups for her first goal of the year.

The Owls cut the margin in half in the 60^th minute on a goal by Lianne Mananquil.

The statistics were even more even than the final score. The Longhorns and Owls each registered 12 shots Friday, and each team took four corner kicks.

Kelly said that while she always is pleased with a victory, she saw things the Longhorns can — and must — clean up.

“They got in behind us more than I would have liked, but we can solve that,” Kelly said. “There are a couple of tweaks that we can make so that it’s not as disruptive of a style and cleaning the ball up and getting down the field. We’ll talk to our group about what needed to happen there, and we’ll organize and move forward.”[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [article-offer] [/s2If]