An Anti-Climatic Finish

The 2007 season came to an unceremonious end for the Lady Longhorns soccer team as they were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament at the hands of the Florida State Seminoles, 4-0, on Sunday. A season that was full of accomplishment for the Horns ended rather quietly in the third round of the NCAAs. With an early season win over UCLA, to a second consecutive Big XII Tournament Title, and two victories over top five Texas A&M in the span of six days, the second coming in round two of the NCAA tournament in College Station, this season has been all about accomplishment for the Longhorns.

But they didn't come ready to play in round three and got outplayed by a very good team. They were never really in the game, as they were out shot 29-5, and while they were only down 1-0 at half, Florida State had controlled the entire time. The second goal pretty much sealed the deal a minute and a half into the second half. This was the Longhorns third appearance in the third round of the NCAA tournament, and ended the same way as the last two, with a loss.

The Longhorns ended the season 16-4-5, and spent most of the season ranked in the Top 15. The Longhorns will lose three starters to graduation and one reserve. Forward Kelsey Carpenter will be sorely missed as she has been a force for the Longhorns since her freshman season. Scoring 39 goals and 20 assists during her four seasons on the Forty Acres, she was a second team All-American in 2006, and a participant with the US U-21 National Team this past summer. Carpenter has been a constant star for the Longhorn attack and she will be extremely difficult to replace.

Midfielder Caitlyn Kennedy is one of the most talented players to ever step foot on the Forty Acres, but she never achieved her full potential as she was plagued by injuries her junior and senior seasons. When she was on the field she was a scoring threat as well as a creative spark plug for the offense, registering 16 goals and 13 assists over her four seasons as a starter. Her best season was her sophomore campaign, and hopes were high her junior and senior seasons as she was Preseason All-Big XII selections both years. Unfortunately, she could never stay healthy, and her mark on the Longhorns was never what it could have been.

Defender and Midfielder Greta Carter came to the Longhorns in 2006 as a Junior transfer from SMU. In her two years she appeared in 49 games, starting at defense and midfield. This year she played an important role as the Longhorns relied on her constantly to step up her game after injuries to Caitlyn Kennedy and Stephanie Logterman. She responded, having a solid season, scoring a goal and registering two assists. Her flexibility and ability to play multiple positions will be missed.

Leslie Imber spent her four years with the Longhorns as a quality role player who played forward, midfield, and defense. She was always able to step in at multiple positions and log quality minutes. She appeared in 74 games for the Longhorns over 4 seasons and scored 2 goals her junior season. With the amount of talent Texas brings in every year, she could never lock down a starting role, but her ability to play multiple positions made her a valuable commodity off the bench.

With much of the team returning for 2008, and another top recruiting class coming in, the Longhorns will once again be ranked among the top teams in the nation. The Longhorns will be lead by on of the top players in the country in Kasey Moore, who will lead the team from the central midfield and will be a front runner for National Player of the Year. The entire defense will be back led by U-21 National Team member, junior, Stephanie Logterman, junior goalkeeper Dianna Pfenniger, junior defender and three year starter Jill Gilbeau, and freshman Erica Campanelli who emerged this year as a freshman. The offense will be lead by freshman sensation Nikki Arlett, who scored 10 goals and recorded 5 assists this season. She will be joined by freshman Emily Anderson and Alisha Ortiz who both flashed great talent in their inaugural campaigns. The real question marks for this Texas team is who will step up and fill the holes left in the midfield by the graduating seniors. Texas will need bench players like freshman Kirsten Birkenhold and Stephanie Gibson to step up and fill the void.

Texas had a great season, but going out the way they did has to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of a program that looked poised to make a run towards their first Final Four appearance. While it was disappointing finish, the Longhorns cleared many hurdles and built confidence for what should be a promising 2008 campaign.

A Season of Firsts

The Lady Longhorns came into the 2007 soccer season much like they have every year, a top ranked team filled with talent and expectations. Typically the hype has fallen short of performance and the Longhorns have fallen short in the conference tournament, the NCAA tournament, and against Texas A&M.

This season has been different as Texas defeated #2 UCLA in a neutral site game early in the season and have continued with a season of firsts. Texas added their second consecutive Big XII Tournament title with a victory over #2 Texas A&M. Heading into the tournament Texas got a tough draw, ending up in College Station with a second round rematch with the Aggies looming.

Texas accomplished another first on Thursday, defeating BYU in the first round. Texas to that point had never won a match in College Station, against the Aggies or anyone else. The win put the Longhorns in the second round, with a match up against the Aggies, whom they had never beaten in College Station.

In a game that faced adverse weather conditions, throughout, Texas A&M controlled the first half after a 50 minute weather delay, and took a 1-0 lead into the half. The second half is when the magic happened as Texas overcame the weather, the opponent, and the atmosphere, and did something they've never done before. Three straight second half goals put them on top 3-1, and they held on for the 3-2 victory, defeating the Aggies for the first time ever in College Station, and their fourth win in the last five matches against the Aggies.

Freshman Erika Campanelli picked the best time for her first career collegiate goal tying the game at one. And then seniors Caitlyn Kennedy and Kelsey Carpenter scored the second and third goals, respectively. Then the Longhorns played defense and held on, as Dianna Pfenniger had 7 saves, as Texas A&M had 23 shots.

The win is huge for this Texas program and one can only hope that the Longhorns can build on this victory and take on the only other hurdle standing in this program's way; they have never made it out of the third round. The Longhorns will try and fix that this Friday as they head to Tallahassee, Florida to take on the #3 seed in the region, the #6 nationally ranked Florida State Seminoles. The winner will meet the winner between the #5 seed in the region Connecticut and the #1 seed in the region and #9 nationally Stanford.

Mormons Will Not Break Us, Bring on the Aggies

Texas opened up their quest for the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship on Thursday afternoon in College Station, Texas. Facing the #22 BYU Cougars, Texas had their first challenge in what was a horrible tournament draw.

Early on Texas looked like a focused and driven team, as freshman forward Alisha Ortiz scored two goals in the first 20 minutes of the match. The first goal was scored in the 10th minute as Ortiz dribbled through the box, around the keeper and passed the ball into an empty net to give the Horns a 1-0 lead. The score didn't stay like that for long as Ortiz picked up a loose ball outside the box and drilled a strike to the back upper side of the goal to give the Longhorns all they needed for a 2-0 victory. The outburst by Ortiz was a surprise as she only had one goal on the season coming in.

After the early lead, Texas was content to take the pressure off, sit back, and play defense. And defense they played, as BYU had 17 second half shots, forcing keeper Dianna Pfenniger to make 7 saves. However, Texas was able to keep the Cougars off the board and will advance to the second round for only the third time in school history.

There they will face #2 in the nation, Texas A&M who advanced with a 4-1 victory over Stephen F. Austin. Texas has split two meetings with the Aggies, losing 2-0 during conference play in College Station and defeating the Aggies 2-1 in a neutral site victory for the Big XII Tournament Title just 6 days ago.

The Longhorns have won 3 of their last 4 meetings with the Aggies, but have never beaten A&M in College Station.

It's Not Just Football, the NCAA is Stupid in Every Sport

The NCAA tournament field of 64 for women's soccer was announced on Monday, and the Longhorns got screwed. After winning the Big XII Tournament over the weekend, and maintaining a top 12 national ranking the entire season, the Longhorns will not be hosting one of the 16 sub-regionals. Instead the Longhorns must make the trip to College Station where they face a potential second round match up with the #2 Texas A&M Aggies.

I'm not really sure how the NCAA justifies putting teams from the same conference in a potential second round match up, let alone two teams that are among the top 12 in the country. I thought there was some sort of seeding process that went on, apparently I was wrong. But who knows, I'll look forward to that Duke/North Carolina second round NCAA tournament match up.

Not only will it be the second match up between Texas and A&M in a week, it will be their third on the season, between arch rivals, one of which will be ending their season, unfairly premature. But, I suppose before we can worry about this great injustice, Texas will actually need to get by BYU in the first round, and with Texas, tournament wins are hard to come by.

The Longhorns will take on the Mountain West Champions BYU (17-3-2) on Thursday, with the winner advancing to the sub-regional final on Saturday. Most everyone else plays Friday/Sunday, but you know, Mormons, can't play on Sunday, won't do it. The game should be a difficult one for Texas, since there will probably be 3,000 Aggies in attendance for the sole purpose of cheering against Texas.

If the Longhorns do manage a victory they will move on to the second round match up with the Aggies, to face an Aggie team that is ranked in the top 5 of the country, that the Longhorns have never beaten in College Station.

Thanks, NCAA, you work so hard to try and have yourselves taken seriously, and make women's soccer a relevant and legitimate sport, and then you go and do this crap. Seriously, I hope you're glad you saved the couple hundred dollars on travel in sacrificing the legitimacy of your sport.