SAN ANTONIO — Junior Kaja Skare scored a pair of goals to help UTSA erase a second-half deficit and defeat Northwestern State, 3-1, on Friday night at Park West Athletics Complex.
With the comeback, the Roadrunners (4-2) won their seventh consecutive match against their former Southland Conference foe. Skare pushed her team-leading goal total to five with her first winners since the opening weekend of the season, while Hannah Weisse and Isabella Sanchez combined to make four saves in the winning effort.
UTSA out-shot the Lady Demons (3-3) 17-8 as it held the visitors to just four shot attempts in each half.
Despite a 10-4 advantage in shots in the first half, the Roadrunners could not break through the Northwestern State defense and the match went to halftime scoreless.
The best scoring chance for UTSA in the opening half came in the 22nd minute, when senior Brianna Livecchi rifled a high shot that banged off the crossbar, while Weisse kept the match scoreless with a sprawling save in the 40th minute.
It was the Lady Demons who got on the board first, behind a goal by April Trowbridge in the 56th minute.
However, Skare and the Roadrunners answered back less than four minutes later to tie the score. Freshman Marianne Hernandez lofted a perfect cross into the penalty box from the left side and Skare's header found the back of the net to knot the score, 1-1.
In the 73rd minute, UTSA took the lead for good on another Skare header, this time off a cross from freshman Jordyn Lacy on the right side.
Working with the lead for the first time all night, the Roadrunners limited Northwestern State to just two shots over the final 27 minutes to protect the advanatage. With just 35 seconds to play, sophomore Channing Machen put the contest out of reach with a booming shot from about 30 yards out that sailed over the keeper's head and into the net.
The goal, which was the first of the season for Machen and the second of her career, pushed the lead to the final 3-1 margin.
UTSA will be back in action at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, when it travels to Stillwater, Okla., for a matchup at Oklahoma State (3-3-1).
