The first days of October provided heroes and a zero.
Texas' women's soccer team won two important conference games this weekend against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Longhorn goal keeper Dana Hall posted a shut out against Oklahoma on Friday and was 90 seconds from a repeat performance Sunday. The Texas attack was also revamped with a healthy Kelly McDonald and Kelly Wilson making significant impacts on the field. With the two victories, Texas upped its overall record to 7-4 and improved its conference mark to 3-2.
"We try to come out and play hard every game," Texas midfielder Amy Burlingham said. "It's great to get a win in the tough Big 12 conference."
After a hard fought overtime loss against Baylor last weekend, Texas head coach Chris Petrucelli changed the starting lineup for this weekend's matches. The backfield displayed the most changes with freshman Christy Perkins and Kristen Teter receiving starts. Teter moved to the defensive line after playing midfield for most of the season.
Coming into the Oklahoma match, Petrucelli knew that it was going to be a one-goal game. Oklahoma is known for playing a "bunker" style defense, often keeping five or six players back on defense. While this slowed the effective Texas scoring attack, the Longhorns managed to score enough goals to win.
The first 45 minutes was littered with scoring opportunities. Hall and Oklahoma goal keeper Jennifer Nichols thwarted chances for both sides to preserve goose eggs on the score board.
The first and only score of the game came in the 58th minute. Texas' Caitlin Kennedy brought the ball down the near side of the field just to the left of the penalty box. She worked the ball over to Kelsey Carpenter at the top of the box who found Burlingham behind the defense close to the end line. Burlingham's shot went through Nichols' outstretched hands and trickled across the goal line. Burlingham was credited for her second goal of the season, and Kennedy and Carpenter picked up the assists.
Texas looked to have the game in hand most of the second half but the Sooners came up with a late burst. Oklahoma had three scoring chances in the waning moments of the game - two of which came in the final 10 seconds. Hall made two critical stops and then held the ball to end the game.
"[The key] was to get behind the defense," Petrucelli said about breaking down the Sooners. "We talked about making some runs at halftime and getting some chances behind them."
Sunday's game against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls proved to be a more traditional Longhorn victory. Texas received three goals, all from forwards, while only giving up one goal on defense to lock up its third conference win.
McDonald put the Longhorns up early in the first by sending a low shot past an out-of-position Breanna Truelove. Kennedy began the play by splitting two defenders. She then found a streaking Wilson who used some fancy footwork to find an opening and deliver a perfect pass to McDonald in front of the net. Texas went into the locker room with a 1-0 halftime lead.
In the second, Oklahoma State came out attacking. After a solid defensive stand, McDonald made a bid for her second goal. She broke into the penalty box and found space around her defender but was tripped up before she could take a shot. The referee awarded Texas a penalty kick for her efforts. Wilson took the kick and banked a low line drive off the left post and into the net.
Shortly after, Carpenter earned the fourth goal of her career after receiving another assist from Wilson. With the assist, Wilson moved past former Longhorn Kati McBain into first on the Texas all-time assist charts with 35.
"Our forwards played very well today," Petrucelli said. "All of our starters as well as [Ashley] Foster and [Kelsey] Carpenter were very dynamic. We could have scored six."
After two much needed wins, the Longhorns will hit the road this weekend for two more tough matches against Nebraska and Colorado.
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