MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — UTSA used a balanced attack and stout defensive effort to fuel a 3-0 victory at Middle Tennessee on Sunday at Dean Hayes Stadium for its first Conference USA triumph of the season.
The Roadrunners, who evened their league record at 1-1 with the team’s third shutout of the fall, matched last season’s win total and improved to 5-4-1 overall. Emma Makela and Katherine Tesno combined to post five saves for the visitors.
Meanwhile, Kelsey Brouwer made three stops for the Blue Raiders (3-6-1, 0-2 C-USA), who were kept off the scoreboard for the fourth consecutive match.
In the first-ever meeting between the programs, it was UTSA who hit the scoreboard early and it never looked back.
Brianna Livecchi picked up her first assist of the season and aided Kauwela Neal’s second goal of 2014 in the 15th minute. The strike was the first for the Roadrunners since Jenny Trommer’s overtime winner at Texas State on Sept. 14 and that proved to be all that the UTSA defense needed.
The Roadrunners kept rolling in the half and doubled their lead in the 27th minute.
Anissa Munson earned her team-high sixth assist when she sent a ball to Trommer, who broke away from the defense and beat Brouwer for her third goal of the fall to take over the team lead.
The score stand there until the 68th minute, when Taylor Wingerden found Lizette Niño and the freshman found the back of the net for her second goal of the season and a 3-0 lead.
From there, the defense kept the Blue Raiders from Makela and Tesno, who played the final 23 minutes and made one save.
UTSA will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3, when it hosts Rice (6-1-2, 2-0 C-USA) at Park West Athletics Complex.