Women’s soccer can’t hold second-half lead in 2-1 loss to Oklahoma

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas women’s soccer team took a 1-0 lead early in the second half, but was unable to hold it as the Oklahoma Sooners rallied to score twice, knocking off the Longhorns, 2-1, at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Junior forward Jasmine Hart put the Longhorns (7-4-4 overall, 4-2-1 against Big 12 opponents) ahead in the 49^th minute when she buried a long shot off an assist from Alexa Adams, marking the fourth consecutive game in which Adams has a point. But [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]Oklahoma (9-6-2 overall, 2-2-2 in Big 12 games) roared back, getting the tying tally in the 61^st minute from Jordyn Knox-Webster and the eventual game-winner on Caren Nelson’s header in the 78^th minute.

The loss ended two streaks for the Longhorns, who had won their three previous matches and were unbeaten in their last five.

Texas head coach Angela Kelly said part of the reason for the disappointment in the loss stemmed from the fact that the Longhorns had their offensive chances and were unable to convert those opportunities into goals.

“Credit to Oklahoma,” Kelly said. “I thought we created opportunities. Mikayla [Flores] was in with four minutes left and was 1-v-1 with the goalkeeper. Jasmine [Hart] had a breakaway. We need to go ahead and take advantage of those opportunities, especially in conference play, because there’s not going to be an opponent who is just going to go away. We needed to clean the ball up and just play better. We didn’t play great in the attacking half, so we just need better performances out of our personalities.”

That the Longhorns have a winning record and road victories over two ranked teams (then-No. 8 UCLA and then-No. 17 Texas Tech) is a tribute to, among other things, their stingy defense and the performance of senior goalkeeper Abby Smith. The UT offense has performed against Big 12 competition — only Iowa State’s 15 goals this season trail the Longhorns’ 16, but against conference foes, Texas has scored 10 goals, trailing only West Virginia’s 20. But on the other end of the field, UT has surrendered just seven goals in seven Big 12 games — the fourth-lowest total in the conference — and 14 goals overall this season, which ties the Longhorns for third among Big 12 teams.

Most importantly, Texas sits in second place in the Big 12 standings. At 4-2-1, the ’Horns have nine points in the standings, making Sunday’s regular-season Big 12 finale against Baylor critical. The Bears have seven points, and a victory over Texas would tie the teams in the standings, and Baylor would have two more chances to pass the Longhorns before the Big 12 Championship, which will be played in the first week of November in Kansas City, Mo.: after the teams meet Sunday in Austin, Baylor still has games against TCU in Fort Worth and at home against West Virginia, while Texas closes out the regular season with a non-conference home game against Montana.

Sunday’s home game against Baylor, which kicks off at 4 p.m., will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network.
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