Campbell twins acclimate to Texas, earn first career starts against No. 10 Virginia
Sept. 1, 2012
Dalton Pool, Texas Media Relations AUSTIN, Texas -- Chantale Campbell is the foresighted visionary, crafting passes as if she saw the play develop from a bird's eye view. Emilie Campbell is a calm, steadying force on the Texas Longhorns' young defensive back line. Their playing styles may differ, but this pair of Canadian identical twins brings a consistent soccer mentality to head coach Angela Kelly's Longhorns, and she rewarded Chantale and Emilie with their first career starts on Friday night against Virginia, UT's first ranked opponent of 2012. The Cavaliers hail from the Atlantic Coast Conference, which sent nine teams to the NCAA Tournament last year, eight of which advanced to the Round of 16. No. 10 Virginia (4-1-0) has allowed just three goals this season, and demonstrated physicality and crisp ball skills in a 3-0 victory against the Longhorns at Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field, but also notable was UT's matching mentality. "It was great for us to play a team like this, because I feel like it elevated our play and shows us what we need to do better to become an exceptional soccer program like Virginia," Chantale said. The Campbell sisters had been playing limited minutes off the bench until last Sunday's Toledo game, when Kelly put both of them in midway through the first half. Chantale came in at the attacking the middle and helped get things rolling right away with a slew of slotted through-balls to senior forwards Hannah Higgins and Kristin Cummins.
Emilie then anchored the midfield and facilitated play by making simple, quick passes to her teammates and then moving off the ball. The Toledo match was tied 0-0 when the sisters came in, but ended up 3-0 by the final whistle. Kelly rewarded them with the start against the Cavaliers on Friday night. "Coach just wanted us to go in there and work hard, focus on keeping the ball, keeping our shape, and just try to find ways to get the ball in the back of the net," Emilie said of Kelly's expectations. "I feel like if we had done a better job of finishing, we would have been able to hang with them." Texas started the game off very well, moving the ball around effectively and creating a few chances. However, Virginia took control of the possession and momentum halfway through the first period, and broke open the game with a pair of second-half goals. "They were definitely a good team," Emilie said. "They created a lot of chances and actually capitalized on them, but we definitely feel like we can compete with them and if we just do a better job of finishing in the final third, then we can beat teams of this stature in the future." |
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