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 Soccer Club 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 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]
