Texas needed every bit of 110 minutes and then a perfect finish from the spot to get past Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament opener Sunday night in Pensacola, Fla.
The No. 9 Longhorns and No. 8 seed Bulldogs played to a scoreless draw through regulation and both overtime periods at Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex, sending the match to a penalty-kick shootout.
Texas came through there, winning 5-4 to advance to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. The result is officially a tie, but the Longhorns move on.
Five different Texas players buried their penalties, and Amalia Villarreal delivered the final blow to seal the shootout. That sends Texas into Tuesday’s quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 seed Vanderbilt, which enters at 16-0-1.
“I’m really proud of our performance tonight,” head coach Margueritte Bates said. “The goals didn’t go our way in regulation, but I thought we dominated in just about every other area of the game. The team showed a lot of Texas Fight, stayed true to who we are and played some excellent football.”
Texas controlled plenty of the night before the shootout ever arrived. The Longhorns finished with a 19-12 edge in shots and put seven on target compared with Mississippi State’s two. Ava McDonald led the way with eight shots, and five of them forced the Bulldogs to work.
The possession battle leaned heavily toward Texas as well, with the Longhorns holding 62 percent of the ball. They also earned 11 corner kicks, their most in a match since Aug. 20, 2023.
McDonald had the best chance to end it in the 98th minute, slipping through the Mississippi State defense and charging into the box before firing a right-footed shot from 15 yards that missed just wide of the bottom left corner. She got another look from eight yards out in double overtime, but Bulldogs goalkeeper Jenny Harrison kept it out to preserve the clean sheet.
Villarreal also came close in the second half, launching a shot from 25 yards that sailed just over the bar. The Lansing, Mich., native was one of five Texas players to go the full 110 minutes.
Bayliss Flynn made two saves to help Texas record its eighth shutout of the season.
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