TYLER – Brittany Matthews has signed to play professional soccer with UMF Afturelding/Fram in Iceland after establishing a new UT Tyler single-season record with 18 goals as a senior and one of the top offensive careers in program history.
A forward from Whitehouse, Matthews completed a stellar four-year career with the Patriots with 31 goals, 16 assists and helped the team to a 56-13-5 record. She earned all-region honors after her senior season and is second all-time in program history with 78 points and her 31 goals.
“Honestly I didn't even see myself playing college soccer when I graduated high school,” Matthews said. “However, I ended up coming to UT Tyler to play soccer because it was close to home and I knew a few girls that played here that loved it and told me I need to join the family. So I did, and these last four years have made me fall in love with soccer all over again and want to go on and play professional soccer. Every coach I have had at UT Tyler made a huge impact on my love for this game and my decision to play professional soccer. An opportunity opened up for me in Iceland and I could never pass up such an amazing experience to go do what I love.”
Matthews joins former UT Tyler and Whitehouse teammate Chestley Strother who also signed a professional contract in Iceland. Strother is already in Iceland with their season starting this weekend. Matthews, who will graduate from UT Tyler with a degree in kinesiology following the completion of an internship, will report to Iceland later this month to compete against Strother who plays for UMF Sindri Hofn.
“I am beyond excited for Brittany,” UT Tyler head coach Stefani Webb said. “This is our third player in a year to have the opportunity to play professionally and I think that speaks volumes for what we are doing as a program. The coaches talk about our player’s ability to adapt to the professional environment and I attribute that to the culture of this program. It’s about disciplining yourself in the little thing to be able to put yourself in the best situation to succeed whether that is on the field, in the classroom or in life.”
Matthews had an impressive senior season and also set a program record with four three-goal performances. The four hat tricks started with three goals in back-to-back wins over McMurry and Sul Ross and then in wins over Belhaven and Louisiana College. A goal-scoring forward, Matthews scored her final career goal in the conference tournament against East Texas Baptist. She also had a two-goal game against Rhodes that included the golden goal in overtime to lift the Patriots to a 2-1 win.
“UT Tyler is not just your average D3 school,” Matthews said. “I have learned many aspects of life and soccer while being at UT Tyler. Stefani Webb has an amazing soccer IQ level which she strived to teach us and get through our heads as well. We were constantly learning and doing new things on this team to better ourselves and our team. We grew every day in practice and constantly had to be on our toes and ready to learn. But we worked on the mental aspect of our game and grew in that tremendously though out each season as well. However, coach drilled us with life outside of soccer too We had to stay on top of our academics and decisions outside of soccer. Every player was to hold a set standard that we had as a team and it was never to be broken. This team was a family and it taught me how to love, have patience and teamwork.”
Webb added: “To think about the transformation that she has made as a player in her four years here is incredible. It is a testament to her relentless work ethic to be honest. My job was to just continue to pose challenges for her. The heart of an athlete is when they accept those challenges and take responsibility for the work that is put into achieving them. Once she decided she wanted to be great there was nothing that was going to stop her and that was apparent in her play this year. She knew she had to step up to replace some of our graduating players and I think that mentality to not be afraid of what is next but to go after it with everything she had was what really changed her game. To be a great player you have to really have that mentality and that relentless work rate and Britt for sure embodies that.”
