AUSTIN — UTSA erased a 3-1 deficit with a pair of goals in a three-minute span during the second half, but Abilene Christian broke the tie with two more goals en route to a 5-3 victory on Friday evening at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.
Sam Batley, Savannah Struck and Olivia Nicholls each scored their first collegiate goals for the Roadrunners (0-2). Meanwhile, Cailey Elder picked up her second assist in as many matches and Katherine Tesno notched a pair of saves.
Sophie Standifer led the way for the Wildcats (1-2) with a goal and an assist, while Kelsey Dombrowski recorded five saves.
Batley gave UTSA the upper hand with a strike in the third minute. Fellow freshman Melissa Finley delivered a cross that was initially punched out by Dombroski. However, the ball went right to Batley, who deposited a shot to the back of an open net for the early 1-0 lead.
The strike gave both players their first collegiate points, along with momentum for the Roadrunners.
Abilene Christian wasted little time in evening the score as Sandifer found Natalie Throneberry for a goal in the seventh minute. The winner was the first for the Wildcats after a pair of shutout defeats to start the season.
Each squad would total six shots, but neither could score again in the opening half and the teams went to halftime tied, 1-1.
The opening minutes of the second half saw a goal once again, however this time it was the Wildcats who used an early strike to grab their first lead of the match.
In the 49th minute, Sandifer slipped past the UTSA defense and rifled a shot past Tesno for a 2-1 advantage. That cushion stretched to 3-1 nearly six minutes later, when Lindsey Jones found the back of the net with a shot from 10 yards out.
Trailing 3-1, the Roadrunners turned up the offensive pressure and knotted the score with goals from Struck and Nicholls.
Lauren Hodgdon found Struck in the 61st minute for her first goal at UTSA and before the Wildcats could recover, Elder slipped a pass to Nicholls, who scored from about 10 yards out.
However, Abilene Christian took the lead back less than a minute later when Kate Seay broke away for an unassisted goal. In the 71st minute, the Wildcats stretched the cushion to 5-3 on Megan Baer’s unassisted winner.
The Roadrunners were unable to mount a second comeback and the Wildcats salted away a 5-3 victory.
UTSA will be back in action at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday when it takes on No. 5 North Carolina (2-0) at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.