SAN ANTONIO – UTSA soccer (2-1) will make its second home appearance of the season, returning to action at the Park West Athletics Complex on Sunday, Aug. 25. After years of matching up as exhibition and scrimmage foes, the Roadrunners will host St. Mary’s (0-0) for the first time as a regular-season opponent. The original game time was moved due to excessive heat advisories and Sunday’s kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with the Rowdy’s Water Park promotion. The game is set for broadcast on ESPN+.
Following the Action
Thursday’s matchup at Park West is set to air live on ESPN+ with Karl Schoening (play-by-play) and Katie Goodman (analyst) on the call. UTSA Athletics will also provide Live Stats.
Rowdy Water Park
UTSA Athletics will host its first-ever Rowdy Water Park at UTSA Soccer to help fans beat the South Texas heat. This event will include an inflatable water slide operating from the opening of gates through the end of the game. UTSA marketing will also have leis and soccer schedule hand fans available for spectators.
About the Roadrunners
Led by seventh-year head coach Derek Pittman, the UTSA Roadrunners jumped out to a 2-0 mark in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history but saw their first setback on a 1-0 loss at Texas State on Thursday.
To date, all three of UTSA’s goals have come off set pieces, the first two of the year via Memphis transfer Zoë May battling through a scramble off a corner and Texas Tech transfer Kameron Kloza smashing a header off Olivia Alvarez and Bri Carrigan assists to defeat Navy (2-1). A senior midfielder from Arlington, Alvarez beat the keeper with an upper right corner penalty kick blast to down UIW (1-0) in historic crosstown action at San Antonio FC’s Toyota Field.
For their efforts in two wins last week, Alvarez was named the AAC Offensive Player of the Week, while Kloza was among the AAC’s weekly Honorable Mention.
Despite Thursday’s loss, the Roadrunners battled through adversity in San Marcos to the final horn and came razor-close on locating the equalizer. Playing nearly 60 minutes short-handed after a red card in the 31st minute, UTSA battled against the deficit created by Mady Soumare’s 18th-minute goal ricocheted off the crossbar into the back of the net.
Overall, 20 Roadrunners have taken the field after three games, and UTSA has outshot opponents, 58-21, with 27 on-target attempts and a .466 SOG percentage. UTSA ranks second in the American Athletic Conference in both shots per game (19.33) and shots on goal per game (9.00), ranking third in the league in both goals-against-average (0.667) and save percentage (.800).
About St. Mary’s
Fifth-year head coach Kevin Drigg has built the Rattlers into a powerful NCAA Division II and Lone Star Conference presence, reaching the LSC Final last season and the NCAA tournament the past two seasons. St. Mary’s took up their first exhibition on Monday, playing another cross-town opponent from Our Lady of the Lake with a 1-0 victory at home. Sunday’s meeting will be an exhibition for the Rattlers as well.
Going 11-6-5 last season, including a 2-3-2 record away from home, St. Mary’s was offensively near the top of the LSC, logging a league second-best 42 goals and 33 assists, ranking 42nd and 33rd in NCAA DII, respectively. Cibolo junior midfielder Shelby Paniagua is back after logging an NCAA 26th-ranked four game-winners among her team-high nine goals last season – also ranking 13th in the NCAA on a 0.55 per-game rate while totaling 12 assists. Graduate student forward out of Boerne, Alexis Truitt logged six goals and three assists a year ago. Meanwhile, El Paso forward Sydney Varela enters her junior season after notching seven goals and an assist in 2023.
Italian senior Rebecca Difronzo will be back in the net for the Rattlers after registering five shutouts, 73 saves on a .730 save percentage and a 1.24 GAA across all 22 games last season.
Series history
The Roadrunners and Rattlers will meet on the pitch for an official UTSA game for the first time on Sunday. The last exhibition in 2021 saw UTSA punch out a dominant 8-0 victory at Park West.
UP NEXT: Back on the road next week, the Roadrunners will travel to Houston on Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff at the Carl Lewis International Complex. The Roadrunners and Cougars faced off in a spring scrimmage and this matchup will mark the third meeting of the Pittman era and the fourth consecutive season with a Big 12 opponent on the schedule.
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