Soccer: TCU drops season finale at Texas Longhorns

The TCU Horned Frogs entered Monday’s contest in Austin vs. the Texas Longhorns comfortably in the three-seed for the Big 12 Soccer Tournament, with an opportunity to move into the two-seed with a win and a BYU draw or loss at home vs. UCF. Neither of those events would occur as the Cougars emerged with a 3-2 victory over the Knights and TCU would ultimately concede the match, suffering a 4-2 defeat to Texas. It was an offensive onslaught from both sides all night as each attempted 20+ shots and each were pushing the attackers forward to earn this result.

The Longhorns got off to a blazing start, as just five minutes into the game Lexi Missimo received a cross in the middle of the box and buried her 20th goal of the season, beating a diving Lauren Kellett to open the scoring. Texas would go on and control much of the next 30 minutes or so, aside from an incredible opportunity where Seven Castain got behind the defense for a one-on-one opportunity that Texas GK Mia Justus stonewalled the attempt. Castain would not be denied for a second time as again she got free thanks to a ball over the Texas back line in the 41st minute; Justus again makes a terrific stop, but the rebound ricochets off a Longhorn defender and into the goal for an equalizer.

TCU was not done in the half, as the Horned Frogs would go into the break with a 2-1 lead as Bella Diorio delivered the free kick across the box where Brenna Brosam headed it goalwards. Justsus again made the initial stop, but left a rebound for Gracie Brian to smash home for her eighth goal of the season.

Unfortunately for the Horned Frogs, the Longhorns returned to the field in the second half with a fury, with Holly Ward delivering a brace out of the break to give Texas the lead, followed by an Olivia Ahern score to seal the deal. TCU delivered 10 shots on goal in the final 45 minutes, forcing three terrific saves from Justus, but were unable to find the back of the net the rest of the way.

Next up will be the Big 12 Soccer Championship Tournament in Round Rock, TX, with the first round play-in games beginning Saturday October 28, with all games broadcast on ESPN+.

With this win, Texas climbed to the 4-seed in the Tourney, overcoming West Virginia and UCF in the league standings. The Longhorns will take on 5-seed Mountaineers on Monday October 30 at 11:30 AM on ESPN+.

TCU will open its quest for a Big 12 Tournament Title vs. the UCF Knights on Monday night at 8:00 PM on ESPN+. The Horned Frogs did not play UCF during the Big 12 regular season and the teams have not met since a 2-0 Knights win in August of 2014.