FORT WORTH, Texas – Making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 12 years, the UTSA soccer team ended its season in phenomenal fashion, falling to No. 5 seed TCU, 3-1, in the first round of NCAA postseason play on Friday night in Fort Worth, Texas.
"I'm incredibly proud of our entire team for tonight's relentless effort and throughout the entire season," head coach Derek Pittman said. "We knew we were up against a quality TCU team full of talented players and I thought our team performed exceptionally well the entire game. Our players carried out the game plan very well and were able to create a few chances of our own. This is just one of many amazing performances by a team full of grit and toughness this year. The 2022 season is one for the history books and something to continue building on as we move into the American Athletic Conference next year."
UTSA ends their season with a 12-6-4 overall record, while TCU advances with an overall record of 13-4-5. Sasjah Dade scored UTSA's lone goal, the first half equalizer in the 24th minute. The Roadrunners played a phenomenal game on defense – led by outstanding efforts by Kendall Kloza, Deja Sandoval and Sabrina Hillyer who played through all 90 minutes - as they attempted to halt the Horned Frogs' 35 shot attempts. Mia Krusinski recorded a career game, notching a career-high 11 phenomenal saves.
Through the first half of action, the Horned Frogs outshot the Roadrunners by 16 shots to three shots, but UTSA showed out on defense to keep TCU to one goal in that period. In the first 45 minutes alone, the Roadrunners blocked six of the Horned Frogs' shots and forced them to fire four shots off target. An own goal by UTSA in the 12th minute gave TCU an early lead. In the 24th minute, the Roadrunners knotted the match up at 1-1. After the Roadrunners earned a free kick, Kloza fired it towards the goal where Dade connected and headed the ball in to make it even. UTSA continued to hold strong on the defensive line through the rest of the half to take a 1-1 match to halftime.
TCU continued to force UTSA to play a defensive game in the second half as the Horned Frogs fired off 19 more shots. The Roadrunners continued to respond as Krusinski made six more saves and the defense blocked four shots and forced seven shots off target. In the last 10 minutes of the match, the Horned Frogs scored two goals in the 82nd and 84th minute to take a 3-1 advantage. Kiran Singh had a close attempt at scoring in the 86th minute as she went one-on-one with TCU's goalkeeper Lauren Kellett but the attempt was saved. The Roadrunners ended their phenomenal season with a 3-1 loss to the No. 5 seed TCU Horned Frogs in UTSA Soccer's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years.
GOALS
UTSA: Sasjah Dade (24')
TCU: Own Goal (12'), Brenna Brosam (82'), Camryn Lancaster (84')
-UTSA-
