SAN ANTONIO – After falling behind early in Wednesday’s Battle for I-35 opener with Texas State (0-0-1) at the Park West Athletics Complex, the UTSA soccer team (0-0-1) put resilience on full display, bringing the game back to even twice. The opener ended in a 2-2 draw between the Roadrunners and Bobcats, which proved to be a physical battle all the way down to the closing seconds.
The Bobcats got the upper hand early, taking a 1-0 lead when a miscommunication in clearance led to an own goal against the Roadrunners in the 4th minute. However, UTSA remained on the attack, heavily outshooting the visiting Bobcats throughout the first half. In the 20th minute, sophomore Brooklyn Bailey got a step on the coverage, but sustained a foul from behind at the edge of the box to set up the first penalty kick of the year. Bailey made the equalizer look easy, freezing goalkeeper Caitlyn Draper and dumping the easy score to the left corner to make it 1-1.
Tied up at half, the Roadrunners outshot the Bobcats 7-2 in the opening period, but early in the second half, Texas State became the aggressor and pulled in front again with Matsuri Tsutsui’s pass veering between multiple players before finding Nina Norshie, who netted the 2-1 advantage in the 68th minute.
Five minutes later, the teams were back to even again, as redshirt sophomore Leah Varela’s free kick from the top of the box found redshirt freshman Dulci Binns, who redirected the ball with her right knee to equalize the game at 2-2 with her first career goal in the 74th minute.
With time slipping away and UTSA on the offensive, the Roadrunners almost snatched the lead in the closing seconds, as Bailey fired a bullet that clipped the top post with 50 seconds to go, and redshirt sophomore Sadie Paul scooped up the ricochet for a final attempt, but Draper snagged her fifth save to force the draw at 2-2.
Overall, the Roarunners outshot the Bobcats 13-7, placing seven on goal, notching five corner kicks in the 2026 debut. Bailey led the Roadrunners with three shots. Varela had had two shots, both on goal, while Redshirt sophomore Ava Jackson also registered two shots.
Goals
TXST: UTSA OG (4’), Nina Norshie (68’)
UTSA: Brooklyn Bailey (20’), Dulci Binns (74’)
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
“Really proud of the mentality and mindset of our players to come out and find a way to get the second goal for us and then almost end up getting the full win there at the end with two really good chances to get another and win the game. A lot to be proud of, and a lot to still learn. I’m really happy with the momentum, the resilience and the toughness that our players showed tonight, going down twice and finding a way to claw back into it and at least get a draw against a very talented Texas State team”
UP NEXT: UP NEXT: The opening matchups for the week just get bigger, as UTSA heads north to face sixth-ranked TCU in Fort Worth on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. in Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium, making it back-to-back years facing the Horned Frogs. TCU plays their first match of the season on Thursday at No. 22 Wisconsin.
- UTSA -