Soccer enters United Soccer Coaches poll at No. 23

AUSTIN, Texas The program’s best five-match start to a campaign since 2018 helped Texas soccer (3-1-1) climb into the national rankings for the first time this season as the Longhorns were listed at No. 23 in Tuesday’s release of the United Soccer Coaches poll.

UCLA (5-0-0) received all eight first-place votes to unanimously move into the No. 1 slot, while North Carolina (5-1-0), Duke (5-1-0), South Carolina (4-0-2) and Virginia (6-0-0) rounded out the top five.

Texas was one of just two Big 12 Conference programs listed in this week’s national coaches poll as West Virginia (3-1-2) came in at No. 17 overall. After a tough weekend with losses to USC and Duke, TCU (3-2-1) plummeted all the way from No. 6 to among the teams “receiving votes” in the latest Top 25.

The Longhorns are currently riding a three-match unbeaten streak heading into this weekend’s home action at Mike A. Myers Stadium against Utah State (Thurs., Sept. 8, 7 pm CT) and UTRGV (Sun., Sept. 11, 1 pm CT).

Freshman forward Liz Worden (leads Texas and is tied for second in the Big 12 with nine points) and sophomore forward Trinity Byars currently lead Texas with three goals each (tied for second in the Big 12), while Worden and sophomore midfielder Lexi Missimo both own a Big 12 Conference-best three assists. Sophomore defender EmJ Cox has proven to be clutch on both sides of the ball by leading the league and ranking 13th in NCAA Division I in match-winning goals after registering scores to beat both Lipscomb and Gonzaga.