BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UTSA soccer team concluded their final out-of-state road trip as the Roadrunners battled to a 1-1 draw with UAB for a C-USA point on Sunday at PNC Field.
"Huge display of commitment today from our whole team," head coach Derek Pittman said. "We challenged them to bounce back with relentless commitment after Thursday and they did exactly that. It was a great goal to start us off and we stayed focused and locked in for the remainder of the match. We played against a talented and rested UAB team and it took a special goal to tie it up. This draw is massive and will propel us on this week back at Park West!"
The Roadrunners went into the match looking to reignite the fire and earn some points towards conference standings. With a draw counting for one point, UTSA returns back home with momentum to close out the remaining four regular season matches strong. Although the Blazers recorded nine shots to the Roadrunners' three shots, UTSA's defensive line kept UAB to a single shot on goal. Kiran Singh recorded her fourth goal of the season.
It didn't take long for UTSA to grab hold of a 1-0 advantage in the first half. In the third minute on the very first shot of the match, Singh battled past a couple of UAB defenders and caught goalkeeper Eve Beyer just as she was stepping away from the goal to halt the ball. Off a pass from Avery Chaney, the junior forward knocked it back to give the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead.
Through the remaining 42 minutes of the first half, the Roadrunners kept the Blazers to just three shots, all of target. In that span, six free kicks and three corner kicks were given to UAB but UTSA fought back defensively to take a 1-0 advantage to halftime.
The conference leading Blazers picked up the pace in the second half, firing off six shots while keeping the Roadrunners to a single shot. Despite that, UTSA did a great job keeping them to only one shot on goal. In the 74th minute, UAB found the back of the net to tie the game up at 1-1. UTSA had a great chance to take the lead late in the match as Anna Sutter charged towards the goal in the 85th minute, but UAB's goalkeeper promptly stopped the charge. All three of UTSA's shots were on target, but the Roadrunners and Blazers ended the match with a 1-1 draw to give them each a conference point.
UTSA's record now sits at 6-4-4 overall (1-2-3 in C-USA action), while UAB's overall record improves to 7-2-4 (4-0-2 in C-USA). As of the current conference standings, the Blazers sit in second place while the Roadrunners sit in eighth place. The top eight teams at the conclusion of the regular season make it into the Conference USA Tournament.
GOALS
UTSA: Kiran Singh (3')
UAB: Hannah Clark (74')
UP NEXT
The Roadrunners return home for the first time in three weeks, hosting Middle Tennessee on Thursday, Oct. 13. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT) at Park West Athletics Complex.
-UTSA-
