SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA soccer program will open the 2021-22 Roadrunners athletics season with an exhibition on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at UIW at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium.
The game will feature the crosstown foes in each of their first exhibition matches of the 2021 season. UTSA will play a total of three exhibitions, including on Thursday at Texas State and hosting St. Mary's on Aug. 15 at Park West Athletics Complex.
The Roadrunners are coming off an abbreviated spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. After the fall season was cancelled due to the pandemic, the Roadrunners shifted to a spring schedule and played just 11 matches, including six league games.
UTSA returns each of the 15 student-athletes who made starts in 2021 and 17 of 21 letterwinners for 2021. The Roadrunners were led in scoring during the 11-game schedule in the spring by junior Abby Kassal, a native of Parker, Colo., and a transfer from NC State, who had four goals and an assist. Junior Albuquerque, N.M., native Deja Sandoval added a pair of goals.
In addition to the top three goal scorers from the spring season, UTSA welcomes back Ellis Patterson and Alyssa Blankenship, a pair of super seniors who are returning for their fifth season. Patterson ranks fifth in UTSA career history in points (45), fourth in points per game (0.74), fourth in goals (16), fifth in goals-per game (0.26), sixth in game-winning goals (four), fourth in assists (13), second in assists per game (0.21) and eighth in shots (100). A product of San Antonio's Brandeis High School, Blankenship has been a fixture on the pitch for UTSA, playing in 46 matches over her first four seasons.
UTSA also welcomes back senior Lex Bolton, a junior forward out of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., who ranks ninth in UTSA career history in points (26), seventh in points per game (0.58), sixth in assists per game (0.18), fifth in shots (124) and sixth in shots on goal (59).
The Roadrunners also welcome back both goalkeepers who made starts in the spring, including Taylor Rath and Jil Schneider. Schneider started 10 of UTSA's 11 matches in goal, owning a 1.26 goals-against average with 26 saves and a pair of clean sheets.
UTSA is also buoyed by the return of standout centerback Kendall Kloza, a product of San Antonio's Lee High School, and dynamic midfielder Isa Hernandez, a junior out of Kyle, Texas.
Fourth-year head coach Derek Pittman leads the Roadrunners and is joined by a talented coaching staff that incudes first-year assistant Brock Duckworth, who is coming off a four-year run at Florida Gulf Coast, and fourth-year assistant/goalkeeping specialist Cameron Carter. UTSA has also added volunteer assistant coach and performance analyst Aidan Reagh to the coaching staff.
UTSA will officially open its 2021 season at No. 16 Oklahoma State on Aug. 19 in Stillwater, Okla.
UIW is coming off a spring season that saw the Cardinals play 14 total matches, with a 6-5-3 mark and a 5-3-3 record in the Southland Conference. UIW averaged 1.43 goals per game in the spring, with a 0.95 goals-against average. Hannah Walsh led UIW with four goals in the spring, with Sierra Wannamaker and Keeley Ayala each netting three goals. Margaret Krofon played all 14 games in goal, with a 0.82 goals-against average and 11 goals surrendered.
The Roadrunners and Cardinals have only met once on the pitch officially, a 6-0 UTSA win in 2018 at Benson Stadium. Bolton and Patterson each scored a pair of goals and had two assists. It was UTSA's largest win since a 7-0 win in 2011.
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