Fifth-year senior Emma Regan playing key role in Texas soccer's success
Photo by Zach Smith
Emma Regan might not be the flashiest on the Texas soccer roster, but there might not be a more important player to the Longhorns’ success.
The fifth-year senior, who has led the team in minutes played over the last two seasons and made her 61st consecutive start, scored her first career goal from the run of play on Sunday, helping Texas beat Florida 3-2 at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.
“I don’t need to be flashy,” Regan said. “At the end of the day, I just want to win games.”
Regan has evolved from a true defender when she first got to Texas in 2018 to a holding midfielder over the last two seasons. She started all 22 matches last season inanition to all 12 in the COVID-split 2020 season.
She leads all non-attackers on the Texas roster this season with five shots on goal and has played all but nine minutes through the first three games.
“I think my job is to be the workhorse in the middle, and I try to set that example every game, whether I’m scoring or not, which I’m usually not,” Regan said. “The more I can communicate and lead by example and grit it out in the middle, it makes their job easier.”
Even if there’s not a player wearing the armband on the field, Regan fills that role for the Longhorns in every other way.
“There isn’t a player in our organization that wouldn't say how important she is to each of them and our squad,” Texas head coach Angela Kelly said. “I’m just grateful we have a player like that.”
Sophomore Trinity Byars scored two goals on Sunday, including the game-winning goal from an assist by freshman Liz Worden, with just over 10 minutes left in the match to give the Longhorns a one-goal lead.
“My teammates put me in a great position,” Byars said. “It felt great to get back on the scoresheet.”
Youth is expected to play a huge role for Texas this season, led in part by Byars and fellow sophomore midfielder Lexi Missimo, who were both named ‘Players to Watch' by the United Soccer Coaches.
Missimo was also named to the watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, the college soccer equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Missimo was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year after scoring nine goals and adding a league-high and Texas freshman record 14 assists for 32 total points, good for fourth in the Big 12.
Byars led the Longhorns in goals with 12 and scoring with 34 points while ranking second with 10 assists and 67 total shots.
The Longhorns opened the season with a dominant 5-0 win against Lipscomb on Aug. 18 and were led by Worden, a freshman, who scored two goals and added an assist in her collegiate debut.
“We’re a young but old team,” Kelly said. “The young players bring experience, and they’ve played at high levels, and we have our older players that kind of solidify everything. We’re not a naive squad in the least, but we can play a little smarter.”
Texas dropped a 2-0 result to top-ranked North Carolina on Thursday in front of 3,264 fans, the eighth-largest crowd in program history.
The Longhorns head out west for games at Oregon on Thursday night and at Gonzaga on Sunday afternoon before returning home to take on Utah State, UTRGV, Texas Southern and UCF to finish off non-conference play.
Big 12 action begins with back-to-back road games, on Sept. 22 at TCU and Sept. 25 at Texas Tech.
“Our morale is really good right now coming off a win,” Regan said. “I think we can keep this momentum going on the road. We face some different opponents from a different conference, but I think we’re ready. We’re always ready for a new challenge.”
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Originally published August 29, 2022 in the Hill Country News