Freshman midfielder Addie Brink scored her first career goal in the 82nd minute of Texas’ match against No. 6 South Carolina, securing a comeback and lifting the Longhorns to a 1-1 draw at Mike A. Meyers Stadium today.
In an offensively heavy game, which saw 34 combined shots taken by both teams, the Longhorns outshot the Gamecocks 19-15, but good defense only allowed for one goal each.
A big part of the story for the Longhorns’ defense was their ability to draw the Gamecocks offside. Going into today’s game, Texas had drawn its opponents offside 32 times in the last eight games, and today added five more to that tally.
Getting an offside call is a skill that takes integrity and composure from the defensive line. The whistle completely stops the offensive momentum for the attacking team, and allows the defenders to take a breath, set up their formation and build an offensive attack of their own.
This translated directly on offense today, as the Longhorns tallied seven shots on goal, and forced the Gamecocks’ defense to make an impressive six saves.
Today’s match also reflected typical Southeastern Conference play, with a slew of fouls by both squads making for a gritty, hard-fought match. The refs blew the whistle 13 times for fouls, with Texas committing seven and South Carolina six.
South Carolina’s lone goal came in the 72nd minute, with Gamecock senior forward Autumn Cayelli redirecting a cross from fifth year forward Micah Bryant and heading the ball past Texas senior goalkeeper Bayliss Flynn into the top right corner.
Regardless, the result looks good for Texas. Against a Gamecocks team ranked sixth nationally, a 1-1 draw in which the offense puts up 19 shots is an incredibly successful outing for the Longhorns, and proves that they can go head-to-head against any top ranked team.
With just two games left in regular season of SEC play, two highly ranked opponents remain. The Longhorns play No. 2 Vanderbilt on Friday in Nashville, then come home to play No. 21 Auburn Nov. 1.
