2024 TCU Women’s Soccer Season Recap

The Frogs won a Big 12 regular season title and earned a trip to the Round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

TCU Soccer recently wrapped up a very successful 2024 season that included a regular season Big 12 Conference title and a trip to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Eric Bell’s squad finished with a record of 17-4-2, going undefeated in conference with a record of 9-0-2. TCU Soccer has been one of the most consistently successful programs on campus and the 2024 season was no exception.

Regular Season

The Frogs kicked off their 2024 campaign with a big-time home game against the number 20-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. TCU moved to 1-0 with a 3-0 victory over the Crimson Tide with goals from Oli Pena, Caroline Kelly, and Seven Castain. Sara Brocious was key to the win as well, picking up two assists in the contest. TCU’s defense did a great job limiting chances from the Tide as Alabama had just four shots on goal all game. In the next game, the Frogs moved to 2-0 with a win on the road against Charlotte by a score of 3-0. The goal scorers for the Frogs were Castain, AJ Hennessey, and Lauren Memoly. Again, the Frogs had a great defensive performance against Charlotte, limiting the 49ers to just two shots on goal.

TCU’s first loss of the season would come in their next match, a road game against Notre Dame, by a score of 4-0. The Frog offense was stymied by a solid defensive effort from the Irish as TCU managed just three shots on goal in the contest. However, the Frogs quickly rebounded at home against Central Michigan with a 3-0 victory. Bella Diorio had an excellent performance with her first two goals of the season and Castain picked up her third goal of the season in the contest. TCU next took down cross-town rival SMU in a low-scoring, 1-0 victory in Dallas. Diorio provided the winner in a physical game that saw six yellow cards handed out.

The Frogs suffered a tough loss on the road in College Station to the Aggies in their next match by a score of 2-0. The Frogs had more shots on goal than the Aggies but the A&M goalie had an excellent game to keep TCU off the scoreboard. TCU played its first Big 12 game of the season against Texas Tech in Fort Worth. The game ended in a 0-0 tie thanks in large part to a great performance from goalkeeper Megan Plaschko. The Frogs closed their non-conference schedule with a comfortable 5-1 win over Cal Poly in Fort Worth. It was an offensive onslaught from TCU with 15 shots on goal and goals from Castain, Diorio, Kelly, Pena, and Ainsley Moy.

The Frogs next picked up a win at home against BYU by a score of 4-1. BYU scored the first goal of the game, but the Frogs quickly answered with goals from Castain and Kelly. Kelly scored her second of the game early in the second half, and Morgan Brown added the fourth goal for TCU. A strong defensive performance from TCU led to a 1-0 victory over Arizona. Kelly provided the winner early in the second half. The Frogs extended the win streak to four games with a victory on the road over Houston by a score of 3-1. Goals from Memoly, Brown, and Kelly and a five-save performance from Plaschko secured the win for the Frogs.

A trip to Waco resulted in a 1-1 tie against the Bears in the next game for TCU. Diorio scored the only goal of the game for the Frogs despite a solid offensive attack that resulted in 28 total shots. TCU got back in the win column in their next game on the road against number 14-ranked Colorado. Colorado scored the first goal of the game before the Frogs rattled off six unanswered to secure the win. Castain had an outstanding game with FOUR goals and an assist. Diorio and Hennessey scored in the game for TCU as well.

The Frogs picked up their second straight come-from-behind victory in their next game in Fort Worth against West Virginia. The Mountaineers took a 1-0 lead early in the second half before TCU stormed back with goals from Hennessey, Brown, and Maddie Mooney. Arizona State traveled to Fort Worth for the next game as TCU picked up a 5-1 win over the Sun Devils. Diorio, Brown, Kelly, Cameron Patton, and Camryn Lancaster were the goal scorers for TCU. TCU kicked off a three-game road trip with a 4-2 win over UCF. Kelly scored two goals with Diorio and Castain each adding a goal.

The strong scoring continued in the next game for the Frogs as they picked up a 4-1 win in Ames over the Cyclones. Diorio had a multigoal game with two and Kelly and Hennessey both picked up a goal as well. The Frogs closed out the regular season out and clinched a Big 12 regular season title with a 2-0 win over Oklahoma State. Both goals came via penalty kick as Diorio and Castain buried shots from the dot.

Post Season

The Frogs first took a trip to Kansas City, Missouri for the Big 12 Tournament where they were the number one seed. The Frogs were matched up with Colorado for their first game in the Big 12 tournament and the Frogs had no trouble in the rematch with a 3-1 win over the Buffs. Similar to the first matchup, Colorado opened the scoring before TCU scored three unanswered to take the win. Lancaster, Castain, and Kelly scored the goals for TCU.

BYU was the next matchup for the Frogs and again TCU came out on top, this time by a score of 2-1. Again, TCU fell behind early but responded with goals from Kelly and Castian to pick up the win and advance to the championship. Unfortunately, the Frogs would lose their first game in over two months in the championship game to Kansas by a score of 1-0. A slow start finally came back to haunt the Frogs as Kansas scored early in the second half and TCU was never able to find an equalizer.

Next up was the NCAA Tournament where TCU was (under)ranked as a five seed. The Frogs hosted their first-round matchup against Stephen F. Austin and picked up a 1-0 win to advance to the road of 32. Kelly scored the game-winning goal in front of a packed Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium on a penalty kick early in the second half. The Frogs unfortunately lost their next game to a very solid Penn State team by a score of 1-0. TCU outshot the Nittany Lions 15-3 overall and 4-1 in shots on goal but the Frogs couldn’t find the back of the net.

The 2024 season was a wildly successful one for the Frogs as they captured their third Big 12 championship in the past five seasons and made their eighth appearance in the NCAA tournament in the last nine seasons. The TCU offense was electric all season, led by Second Team All-American Bella Diorio Fourth Team All-American Seven Castain, Caroline Kelly, and Big 12 Midfielder of the Year Oli Pena. Head coach Eric Bell has elevated TCU Soccer to consistently competing on a national stage and the Frogs will certainly be in the mix for another Big 12 championship in 2025.