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Sports

Lisberger's Defense Leads Texas

The senior shines against TCU in her first game at outside back.

There's always a first time for everything and even though she's a senior with three years of college experience behind her, University of Texas soccer standout and Brentwood School alum Amanda Lisberger was understandably anxious trying out a brand new position Wednesday night in Austin.

Lisberger has made a career of scoring big goals. Now it's her job to prevent them. She started on the back line for the first time in the Longhorns' season-opening exhibition game against Texas Christian and her steady play as the left side defender contributed mightily to a 3-0 victory.

"We played well in the back and I had a lot of help from my [defense] coach and the returning defenders," Lisberger told Patch after the game.

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Born in South Korea, Lisberger was raised in Pacific Palisades and earned 11 varsity letters at Brentwood School, where she netted 88 goals in four seasons and graduated as the career scoring leader for the girls soccer program. She also ran cross country and track. 

On Wednesday, Lisberger and her Texas teammates played air-tight defense for the full 90 minutes, allowing the Horned Frogs only four shots.

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As exceptional as she was keeping TCU at bay, Lisberger also found a way to contribute at the other end of the field, crossing to teammate Taylor Knaack, whose shot led to a putback goal by Lexi Harris that opened the scoring in the 16th minute. The host Longhorns scored twice more in the next eight minutes to build a commanding lead.

"It's different since I have to stay back more and be more careful what I do with the ball, but I really enjoyed playing back there," Lisberger said of her defensive role. "It gives me the opportunity to run forward and get into the attack, too, which is what I'm supposed to do. I just have to pick and choose the moments to push up."

When prolific scorers Knaack (a senior from Notre Dame) and Vanessa Ibewuike (a junior from Purdue) transferred to Texas, the coaching staff opted to move Lisberger to outside back and the 21-year-old senior embraced the opportunity, knowing that's where her team needs her most. 

"At the end of the spring [head coach Chris Petrucelli] told me that he was thinking about making the switch," Lisberger recalled. "I was excited to start something new and see if I was any good at it. Now I'm learning to love defense. It's a new position but I'm getting the hang of it."

In July, Lisberger and her Camarillo-based Under-23 Eagles SC squad won its record-setting fourth age-specific national title, defeating the Kansas City Dynamos on penalty kicks in the championship game at Bowling Green, Kentucky.

In the final, Lisberger played on the front line with two other Big 12 Conference forwards--Emily Cressy of Kansas and Kelsey Kraft of Oklahoma. However, since returning to campus (preseason training opened August 2), Lisberger has been in "defense" mode.

"I think we're a lot better, a lot more talented," Lisberger said of the Longhorns, who lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season. "We're more fit. We were playing hard the whole game while TCU was getting tired towards the end."

Texas plays another exhibition Aug. 14 at Florida State before opening the regular season in Austin five days later against Loyola Marymount.

Her sport consumes much of her time, yet Lisberger is also preparing herself for life after soccer. She made the Academic All-Big 12 second team in 2009 and 2010 and remains on track to graduate next spring with a bachelor's degree in Education (specializing in youth and community studies) and a minor in Kinesiology.

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