The blaring sirens and flashing lights of local police, EMTs, and SWAT vehicles substituted for the traditional Texas cannon last Friday when the Longhorns welcomed community heroes into Mike A. Meyers stadium to not only introduce the team but enjoy a night of quality Texas soccer.

Freshman goalkeeper Abby Smith returned from winning the U20 Women's World Cup to take the helm in the back for the Longhorns, but Fresno State failed to put up much of a challenge in her first appearance as the Bulldogs put only two shots on frame. Perhaps more important than the action for Smith was the chance to play with her new backline.

"Being back in Texas is awesome," Smith said. "I missed my teammates a lot, and it was a lot of fun to get back on the field with them this weekend. The whole Texas team was so welcoming, making me feel that much more comfortable coming back to Austin."

The first game no doubt eased any nerves with most of the action occurring at the other end of the field. Texas scored just under three minutes into the match when senior forward Hannah Higgins tallied her first goal of the year as she bent a beauty into the far upper 90 from the top of the box.

Higgins had her best match of the year as she lead the team with seven shots and assisted the second goal of the night. Halfway through the first half she sent a curving corner kick toward 6'0" freshman holding midfielder Lindsey Meyer posting up on the goalkeeper. Meyer's header was followed by a third goal from freshman Kelsey Shimmick just over a minute into the second half when the forward redirected a Kristin Cummins cross.

The Longhorns continued the offensive momentum after their Friday night 3-0 win as they faced the University of Denver Sunday evening, but struggled to keep the clean sheet. In fact, Texas relinquished a 3-1 lead with under eight minutes remaining, allowing Denver to tie the game at 3-3 and earn extra time. Despite the spark in finishing, the Horns' youth continues to be exposed in the back and had to settle for a 3-3 tie.

"We just came unplugged. We can't unplug," Head Coach Angela Kelly said.

Kelly moved senior Kara Hoffman to left back over the weekend. Hoffman had previously played up top and in the midfield for the Longhorns, but was an attempt to solve some issues apparent in the previous week's losses to BYU and Utah. The starting 11 stayed the same for the first time this season from one game to the next.

"We've certainly battle tested our group," Kelly said. "That's the message post game. The team responded to me and told me that the message is that we can't take possession off. We can't take 10 seconds off or we'll be punished."

A bright spot for Texas is the constant maturation across the field. This is apparent in players like sophomore attacker Allison Smith who plays with more confidence each game. Smith had two assists on the weekend and has crucially discovered the weight of the final through ball that now finds Higgins more often than not streaking in behind the opposing defense.

“On the offensive side, I’ve been working on taking on defenders, which is something I didn’t used to do very often," Smith said. "In the past I was just the playmaker in the middle, but lately I’ve tried to go at defenders more a create more for my teammates.”

The Longhorns moved to 3-6-1 going into the Big-12 conference where they will face a strong Iowa State (7-3) squad in Ames Friday before finishing the weekend at Oklahoma (4-4-2).

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