SMU
No. 12 Texas
SMU Ready For Challenge Of No. 12 Texas | Thursday 6 pm In Washburne
Aug 21 | Women's Soccer
Pack the Pitch | First 100 Fans to arrive at Washburne will receive an SMU Soccer T-Shirt
SMU (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ACC) vs. Texas (2-0-0, 0-0-0 SEC)
Washburne Stadium - Dallas, Texas
Thursday, Aug. 22Â | 6:00Â p.m. (CT)
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DALLAS (SMU)- The SMU women's soccer team isn't approaching Thursday's game against Texas as a revenge game or redemption game, it is just another opportunity to go out and play.
Not only did the Mustangs not watch the film from last year's 6-0 loss in Austin leading up to this game. They didn't even watch it after the game last season.Â
Just over two minutes into the game, SMU was down a player and a goal. A second penalty kick conversion 22 minutes later completely changed the game.
"We're not even referencing last year's game," SMU coach Nicole Nelson said. "To us, it's not relevant at all in that we didn't get an opportunity last year to execute our game plan. … We did what we could on the day, but it's not relevant in any way. It's not relevant from that perspective and our team is so much different this year."
The Mustangs brought in 12 new players this season, six freshmen and six transfers. The combination of quality returning players and those additions has put SMU ahead of schedule.
"The talent that we've added, the depth we've added … because we had a large group of returners here in the spring, we were able to really lay the foundation for a lot of things," Nelson said.Â
SMU has six different goal-scorers through two games, including three — Liz Eddy, Sammy Nieves and Nyah Rose — with multiple goals. But things only get harder with No. 12 Texas on Thursday, No. 13 TCU on Sept. 1 and Baylor on Sept. 5.
That's something the Mustangs know and feel like they are prepared for starting with the Longhorns.
"Our focus is on playing to our potential game-in, game-out regardless of the opponent. It has been that from the start," Nelson said. "What we talk about a lot is, 'Can we play to our potential regardless of the opponent.' Now, it doesn't mean that we're naive in the approach. … They're a very good team. They have good depth, they have very good players. So we acknowledge that our speed of play, we have to be at our best, we know that. But at the same time, we're very capable of it being a win if we're at our best."
Texas is led by a pair of players named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, Lexi Missimo and Trinity Byars. Missimo was a semifinalist for the award last season and is the program's career leader in points and assists with 143 and 51, respectively. Meanwhile, Byars is the all-time leading goal scorer with 48.
She is also the older sister of SMU sophomore Truth Byars.
"I've been watching her since I was literally, like, 5 years old," Truth said. "Especially since we're playing the same position, it's good to see how she plays and apply that to myself. So that's always nice."
Trinity and Truth went to different high schools and the age difference kept them from playing together on any club teams. They didn't even share the same field last year due to an injury to Truth.
That's not the case this year.
"It's just really exciting. I'm really looking forward to this game," Byars said. "Even last year I was coming back from injury, so I didn't get to play. But even watching that game and being in the same area playing against each other was definitely an experience that I remember and enjoyed."
If there is someone who will enjoy the game even more than Truth or Trinity, it is their mom and family. She already has the special shirts made for the game and doesn't have to choose which daughter's game to go to.
"It's always nice for her to see her kids on the same field," Byars said of her mom. "One thing with my family is you have to split up games. Some days you have to go to Austin. Some days they have to stay in Dallas. It's nice for them to finally not have to choose between their children and just come to one game, so it's really exciting for them."
But when it comes game time, it is not about the player on the other team with the same last name. It's not even so much about the other team.
"One thing that our team focused on is ourselves. Obviously, yes, our opponent is a big part of the game," Byars said. "But one thing we really focus on is playing to our potential, not worrying about the other team. … The big thing with us is focusing on ourselves and playing to the best of our abilities."
Even in the first two games the Mustangs showed a focus that could be lacking at times in previous seasons. They beat Northwestern State 3-0 and are coming off a 6-0 win against Texas Southern on Sunday.
"I've been very pleased with their progress. We're trying to play to our potential and get a little bit better each week," Nelson said. "I feel like they've done that. From the first game to the second game, although again the opponent was different, we produced a ton of shots in the first game. We thought clearly there were areas of the game that we could have been much better to our potential. …Â
"That's one of the things that's hard and it's one of the things that's been a challenge for us in the past, is to stay fast, to stay sharp, to stay proactive in our thinking if we're playing an opponent that it may not be as big of a challenge. So sometimes that's caught us in the past, especially in the American where we've dominated a game, but we haven't done what we needed to get the win."
Those tests will be bigger this year. There are seven ACC teams in the current Top 25, including No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Stanford. The Mustangs play both along with Virginia and Virginia Tech, currently tied at No. 21, and Wake Forest that is currently receiving votes.
Teams in the ACC have produced 15 national champions and another 15 national runners-up since 2000, including nine matchups of current conference teams. Last year, Florida State beat Stanford in the title game.
Being able to be a part of the first SMU team to play in the ACC is something special and an opportunity this group is ready to take advantage of.
"Its a great opportunity it is to be part of history, to be part of this historic year where we make the move back into a power conference and for us to jump into the best, without question, the best women's soccer conference in the nation. It elevates everything we do.
"... That exposure and playing against the best players in the nation and measuring yourself, especially with those that want to go play professionally, with a number of players that are going to go play professionally in the next year or two. So, on all those fronts, it's inspiring, it's exciting. We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of this historic year at SMU."
And the best part is that SMU gets to do much of it at home. All seven non-conference games and then five of the 10 ACC games will be in the friendly confines of Washburne Stadium, including Florida State and Stanford.
"We've talked about Washburne and the benefits of being at home for this long stretch," Nelson said. "You don't have some of the challenges that you have, just the uncontrollables that you have with travel. We have what we feel like, we hope, is a home field advantage. We hope that we get a large crowd and that we can make them proud with our performance."
