Lexi Missimo

Lexi Missimo

Missimo with Texas in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Alexis Missimo
Date of birth	(2003-01-30) January 30, 2003 (age 21)[1]
Place of birth	Grapevine, Texas, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Texas Longhorns
Number	10
Youth career
2008–2020	Solar SC
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–	Texas Longhorns	66	(44)
International career
2016	United States U-14
2017	United States U-15
2018–2020	United States U-17
2021–2022	United States U-20	7	(3)
2023–	United States U-23

Alexis Missimo (born January 30, 2003) is an American college soccer player who plays as a midfielder for the Texas Longhorns. She has represented the United States at the youth international level. She received TopDrawerSoccer national player of the year honors with the Longhorns in 2023.

Early life

Missimo played youth soccer for Solar SC of Dallas, Texas, beginning at age five.^[2] She helped win the USYS national under-13 championship in 2016^[3] and reached the ECNL under-15 national championship game the next year.^[4] Between 2017 and 2019, Missimo scored 100 goals in 62 games in the Girls' Development Academy.^[5][6] Playing up four age groups in 2017–18, she led the Solar under-18/19 team in goals and helped them reach the national championship game, receiving conference Best XI recognition.^[7][8] She led Solar to win the national under-16/17 championship in 2019, receiving the Golden Boot as the playoffs' top scorer with 11 goals and being named the region's player of the year.^[9] She was a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American (2018–2019) at the youth level.^[10]

College career

Missimo verbally committed to Texas when she was in seventh grade.^[11] She was the number one recruit for the class of 2021,^[12][13] but elected to graduate from Southlake Carroll High School in three years in 2020 and enrolled at the University of Texas in the fall of that year.^[14] She had offers to go pro out of high school from Arsenal and Manchester City, the latter of which she had trained with.^[2][15] She scored in her college debut on March 5, 2021, a 4–0 win over Texas State. She scored two goals in a 4–0 win over Baylor on March 31. She finished the abbreviated spring season with three goals and two assists in three games.^[16]

Missimo started all 22 games during her freshman fall season in 2021, recording nine goals and 14 assists. Her assist total led the Big 12 Conference and tied the Texas program record for assists in a season. She was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year and recognized with All-Big 12 first-team, Big 12 all-tournament, and Big 12 All-Freshman honors.^[17]

During her sophomore season in 2022, Missimo played in 17 games after suffering an injury early in the season that forced her to miss six games. Despite the absence, she led the Big 12 and set the Texas program record for assists in a season with 15, which ranked third in NCAA Division I that season. Texas won the Big 12 regular season championship and reached the conference tournament semifinals. Missimo contributed an assist in the Longhorns' first-round NCAA tournament win over Texas A&M, and the team's season ended a 1–0 loss to Duke in the next round.^[17]

In her third full season with Texas in 2023, Missimo earned All-American honors and was named the TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Year. She scored 26 goals and recorded 20 assists.^[17] She became the first player in the history of the Texas program to record a 20–20 season. She led the Big 12 in goals, assists, and points for the season.^[18]

She announced following the 2023 season that she would return for her senior year.^[19]

International career

Missimo began training with the United States youth national team at the under-14 level in March 2016.^[20] She made her international debut at the youth level on May 12, 2017, with the national under-16 team in a 4–0 win over Croatia.^[21] She scored her first youth international goal for the under-15 team against Germany on November 1, 2017.^[22] She and club teammate Trinity Byars led the under-16 team with five goals each at the Torneo delle Nazioni in 2018, which they won.^[23]

Missimo played up two age groups with the national under-17 team in the lead-up to the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup,^[24] but did not make the roster for the World Cup. She was a key player in the build-up to the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, scoring three goals and adding two assists in two tournaments in Europe in 2019.^{[25][26][27][28]} She had both assists in the 2–0 win over England in Florida on February 22, 2020, which was the final game for the team before the qualifying event.^[29] However, the World Cup and the Concacaf Women's U-17 Championship were canceled due to the covid pandemic.

Missimo was named to the national under-20 team for the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship.^[30] She scored three goals in seven appearances while leading the United States to the championship and was one of four Americans to make the tournament's Best XI.^[31] Prior to the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, she announced on social media that she removed herself for consideration for the roster to focus on her sophomore college season.^[32] She was called into camp with the under-23 team in 2023.^[33]

Personal life

Her parents are Derek Missimo and Susan Missimo. Her father is the all-time leading scorer (56) and all-time points leader (138) for North Carolina^[34] and coached her youth club teams.^[35] Her mother was a four-year letter winner for Texas Christian from 1991 to 1994. She has an older sister Gabriella, who was part of the Texas Longhorns women's soccer team in 2019.^[36]

References

1. "National team roster, 2022 Women's Under 20 Championship: USA" (PDF). CONCACAF. February 22, 2022. p. 20. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
2. "Faces in the Crowd". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
3. "2016 US YOUTH SOCCER CHAMPIONS • SoccerToday". SoccerToday. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
4. "ECNL Girls". ECNL Girls. 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
5. "Solar Soccer Club". solr.ussoccerda.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
6. www.girlssoccernetwork.com https://www.girlssoccernetwork.com/staging/news/club/ussda-player-of-the-year-awards/. Retrieved 2021-06-02. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
7. "SOLAR SOCCER CLUB TO FACE LAFC SLAMMERS FOR FIRST-EVER U.S. SOCCER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY U-18/19 GIRLS' CHAMPIONSHIP – Solar Soccer Club". www.solarsoccerclub.com. Archived from the original on 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
8. "Girls Development Academy end-of-season awards, Best XIs announced". SoccerWire. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
9. "Solar SC captures Girls Development Academy U-16/17 championship". SoccerWire. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
10. Coaches, United Soccer. "United Soccer Coaches Announces 2019 Youth All-Region and All-America Teams | United Soccer Coaches". Retrieved 2021-06-03.
11. "A Seventh Grader Just Verbally Committed to Women's Soccer at University of Texas". www.vice.com. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
12. "Alexis Missimo – No. 1 Player – class of 2021". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
13. "Club Soccer Player Rankings". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
14. "Soccer announces eight signees in 2021 recruiting class". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
15. "The same path as Hamm, Wambach or going pro straight out of HS: an emerging trend, and choice, two Dallas-area soccer prodigies face". Dallas News. 2020-05-19. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
16. "Texas Soccer Stats (PDF)" (PDF). University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
17. "Lexi Missimo – Soccer". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
18. "Big 12 2023 Women's Soccer Stats".
19. https://twitter.com/MissimoLexi/status/1744495359533986297
20. "Alexis Missimo". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
21. "U.S. U-16 Girls National Team defeats Croatia 4–0". SoccerWire. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
22. "USA U15 GIRLS DEFEAT GERMANY TWICE". SoccerToday. 2017-11-04. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
23. "Youth: U.S. U-16 girls rout all foes at Torneo delle Nazioni". www.socceramerica.com. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
24. "U.S. U-17 Women's National Team plays Korea Republic to 4–4 draw". SoccerWire. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
25. "U-17 WNT Opens UEFA Development Tournament in Portugal with 4–0 Victory Against Mexico". www.ussoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
26. "U-17 USWNT Falls 4–3 To Spain At Friendly Tournament In Sweden". www.ussoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
27. "U.S. U-17 WNT Downs Sweden 2–1 To Open Friendly Tournament". www.ussoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
28. "U-17 WNT at UEFA Development Tournament". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
29. U.S. Soccer. "U.S. U17 WNT sweeps England". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
30. "Soccer's Missimo & Byars named to U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
31. "Soccer's Missimo named to CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship Best XI". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
32. https://twitter.com/MissimoLexi/status/1545938249067159553/photo/1
33. "U.S. Under-23 Women's Youth National Team Will Start 2023 Programing with Trip to Paris for Two Matches Against the France U-23 WNT | U.S. Soccer Official Website".
34. "media guide 2020 (PDF)" (PDF). University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
35. "Dad coach leads Solar's decade of dominance | Club Soccer | Youth Soccer". TopDrawerSoccer.com. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
36. "Gabriella Missimo – Soccer". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2021-06-03.