TCU Women’s Soccer: Spring season preview

No. 4 TCU Women’s Soccer is back to continue the abbreviated season they began in the fall which ended with the Horned Frog’s first ever Big 12 regular season title.

Originally, the Horned Frogs were set to host the Baylor Bears at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium this weekend on Saturday, March 6, but the game was cancelled due to Big 12 COVID-19 interruption guidelines. After the cancellation, the spring slate will begin with TCU hosting Texas State on Saturday, March 13. Every game for the spring season is set to kick-off at 7:00 p.m. CST.

Besides Texas State, TCU is scheduled to take on Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Notre Dame. Four of the five games played this shortened season will be at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium in front of the Horned Frog faithful.

The only road game happens to be potentially the toughest opponent of the bunch — Texas A&M. The Frogs will travel to College Station on April 10 to take on an Aggie squad that finished 8-2-0 and 2nd in the SEC West.

All eyes will be on the Horned Frogs this spring as they look to build off their incredible 8-0-1 unbeaten record from the fall campaign. Head Coach Eric Bell’s squad didn’t just win nearly every game, they dominated one of the best conferences in the country in the process.

After the fall campaign, TCU was honored with a school-record seven Big 12 All-Conference squad players and ran the show throughout the rest of the awards ceremony. The Frogs took home four of the five possible Player of the Year awards: Grace Collins was selected as the Offensive Player of the Year, Marz Akins was voted Freshmen of the Year, Eric Bell earned Coach of the Year and Emily Alvarado was chosen to be the Big 12’s first ever Goalkeeper of the Year.

Aside from the numerous conference accolades the Horned Frogs piled up last fall, three members from the Big 12 champion squad were named to the MAC Hermann Award Watch List. Yazmeen Ryan, Grace Collins and Emily Alvarado were selected to be a part of this 55-athlete list thanks to their sensational fall campaigns.

TCU played phenomenally as a unit this past season, but Ryan, Collins and Alvarado were certainly stand-out players on an individual level as well.

Yazmeen Ryan recently became the first TCU Women’s Soccer player to be selected in the first round of the NWSL draft, being taken 6th overall to the Portland Thorns. The senior also became TCU’s first ever four-time all-conference player after being selected to the Big 12 all-conference first-team yet again.

Grace Collins dominated the pitch in nearly every way, shape, fashion or form you could think of. The sophomore forward ranked top-25 nationally in seven different statistical categories in route to becoming TCU’s first ever Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Emily Alvarado has been discussed as one of the top goalkeepers in the country, and she showed why this past fall. Alvarado led the nation amongst keepers who had played at least two games with an incredible .925 save percentage. She became the TCU record holder for career shutouts(20) after posting seven in the fall.

In just about every way possible, the Horned Frogs are looking poised for another fantastic abbreviated season.

No matter what happens TCU has already clinched an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The big dance will host 48 teams and take place April 24 through May 14(assuming all is well with COVID).

See you all at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium on March 13! Go Frogs!