SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA soccer team moves to 2-0 to start the season for the first time since 2016 after producing another commanding defensive performance against visiting McNeese (0-2). The Roadrunners claimed a 2-0 victory over the Cowgirls after outshooting McNeese 26-2 in the final margins of Sunday's clean sheet at the Park West Athletics complex.
The Roadrunners logged 15 shots on goal, tying for the program's fourth-most in a single game.
Taking in a day game in the hottest part of the 2023 San Antonio summer, an easterly breeze provided some relief for the players, but couldn't provide the Cowgirls protection from an immediate UTSA strike. The Roadrunners got the ball out wide on the right flank, with Alex Granville served the ball in to Sabrina Hillyer on the back side, putting away a putback goal just 32 seconds into the game for her first career goal.
The Cowgirls defense kept UTSA out of the net, but couldn't stop the Roadrunners' attacking style, as UTSA closed out the half with a 13-1 shot differential, maintaining possession at 67 percent and keeping the ball on McNeese's half a whopping 70 percent of the period.
UTSA took another 12 shots in their persistent assault before hitting paydirt once more. In the 80th minute, Granville charged up the field and pushed ahead to Jordan Hyland and then received a return pass out wide and brought a crossed from the endline inside to Sophie Morrin who thumped the finish on a near-post run for her first career goal – giving UTSA an insurance goal.
Hillyer led the Roadrunners with four shots, while Granville collected a pair of assists. Goalkeeper Mia Krusinski collected a save and off the Cowgirls' lone shot on goal and secured her fifth clean sheet at UTSA.
For McNeese, the tandem of goalkeepers recorded 13 saves on the day against the relentless Roadrunners.
Across two games in the opening week, the Roadrunners have put up seven goals and the defense has racked up a 47-3 shot margin over Central Arkansas and McNeese.
Goals
UTSA: Sabrina Hillyer (1'), Sophie Morrin (80')
McNeese: None
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
"Overall, a difficult Sunday match against a tough opponent, but we'll take the win and our first shutout of the season and move on. Their gameplan worked toward making it difficult for us to create. It was great to get the early goal, I was just disappointed we weren't able to create more after that. I thought our possession was good, I thought we got the balls into the right areas, but full credit to McNeese – they were here to frustrate us and catch us on the counter, but overall I thought it was a really good performance against a well-organized team."
The biggest thing for us moving forward is that we have to pay attention to the details. We made some errors today that a team like Kansas State or someone else is going to punish us for. We have to continue learning those lessons in these wins. Kansas State is going to have that date circled to repay the favor after we beat them last year. They're going to be a great opponent and we're excited to go on the road and get ourselves tested."
Up Next
With a perfect record coming out of week one, the Roadrunners hit the road for the first time in the 2023 season, traveling to Manhattan, Kansas for a rematch with the Kansas State Wildcats – after UTSA logged a 3-2 win last year at Park West. The Roadrunners wrap the week with the Battle for I-35 on Sunday evening back at Park West.
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