Two former Longhorn football players returned to Texas last weekend to play in a venue that enjoys legendary status within their athletic program.
“It’s a beautiful field. It’s a huge field, and obviously knowing the history of the Texas/OU game, I think it just meant a lot for both of us to be able to go and play there,” said Jilly Shimkin.
Shimkin and her former UT teammate Ashlyn Miller played a match at Dallas’s Cotton Bowl Stadium for their current team, Brooklyn Football Club. Of course, the two association footballers never played the gridiron code there, but they understood the edifice’s significance.
“I was talking to my parents and I was, like, ‘Man, it’s so weird that I used to, like, dream about actually playing in the stadium,’ and then I am playing in the stadium,” Miller said. The McKinney native had been on the field before in conjunction with watching Dallas Cup boys games, but neither player had ever made it to North Texas for the annual Red River Rivalry tackle football game.
“We always had a game where we were away or we had a home game the next day. So we never were able to go, unfortunately. But we watched on TV,” explained Shimkin.
Miller had plenty of family in attendance for the game against Dallas Trinity FC and they made the 200-mile drive down Interstate 35 for many of her college games, too. Relationships had a lot to do with her college decision.
“My friends (from club soccer) were all committed there, and it was close to home, and you hear so many great things about UT. So, the minute they committed, and then they (UT) reached out, it was just kind of like a no-brainer for me.”
Shimkin, on the other hand, made her way to the Texas capital from Rockville Centre, New York via Penn State. But she had gotten to know some of the same teammates with whom Miller had become close by playing with them on United States youth national teams: Lexi Missimo and Trinity Byars.
“Lexi and Trinity were there, and I grew up going to the U.S. camps with them. So when I went into the portal, and Ange (Kelly, the Texas coach during their careers on the Forty Acres) reached out to me, I thought it was a no-brainer as well.”
Existing bonds grew tighter in Austin, as the four not only played together but also shared an apartment. Both Shimkin and Miller felt that deeper connection proved valuable in getting results on the pitch.
“We were constantly wanting to get each other on the ball, and I think that really helps,” said Shimkin.
“Off the field, we were all really close, and when you trust each other off the field and you grow connections off the field, it really does help you on the field,” Miller said.
The friend group won two conference tournament championships and a regular-season title during their time together at the university level. Shimkin and Miller hope they can recreate some of that success at their current club. Miller had signed with Brooklyn this offseason but Shimkin didn’t know that before she decided to also consider the club.
“Then Ashton texted me, was, like, ‘Are you coming to Brooklyn?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m waiting for my contract,’” Shimkin said. “It was really, really exciting to be able to have someone familiar and someone comfortable that you’re friends with on the same team.”
Shimkin’s parents lived the furthest away during college but now live the closest. They can drive across Long Island to see their daughter play, while Missimo plays in France and Byars in San Diego. Miller’s father told me on the walk into the Cotton Bowl he’s glad can at least see his daughter play more often than at her first pro stop: Brisbane, Australia.
It’s the nature of women’s pro soccer that Miller and Shimkin might play together for several more years in Brooklyn or one might decide an offer to play in a distant municipality would advance her career. Some of their Longhorn teammates have kicked balls for a living in Canada, New Zealand, Iceland, and other places far from Austin. But one doesn’t have to look much further than the heartfelt ways they engage on social media platforms (words like “love,” “fire,” and their emoji equivalents dominate the comments on teammates’ posts) to realize the bonds formed by soccer will last beyond the Lone Star State.
“That group and that team, and then obviously us four, like, me, Jilly, Lex, and T, will, I think, forever be really good friends and so forth,” said Shimkin. “That team, like, in general, I think, will just be super close.”
