CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – UTSA soccer wrapped up its final exhibition of the 2024 season on the road, collecting a 2-1 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday night at Dr. Jack Dugan Stadium. Shifting gears to an aggressive approach, the Roadrunners delivered a strong offensive output, leaving the Islanders under constant siege.
The Roadrunners came out with a flurry of attacks in the first half, outshooting the Islanders 11-1 in the opening stanza with a 58-percent possession advantage. On the eve of her birthday, Magnolia, Texas sophomore Michelle Polo took charge in the early action, firing off a team-high five shots, highlighted by three on-target attempts. The fifth shot for Polo and the 10th for the Roadrunners found paydirt, as Izzy Lane set up Polo through the middle, rocketing a goal into the right side of the net to provide UTSA the 1-0 advantage in the 26th minute.
After 20 minutes of the second half, Tomball, Texas freshman Bri Carrigan padded the UTSA lead with a putback score on a corner at the 65th-minute mark, making the most of the Roadrunners’ third shot of the second half – hitting the mark with a score for her first collegiate goal on her first shot of the night.
In the 82nd minute, the Islanders were able to convert and scratch one score off the UTSA advantage with a Mai-Lisa Atis goal, trimming the Roadrunner lead to 2-1.
Overall, the Roadrunners racked up a 59 percent possession advantage, holding the Islanders to just 10 percent of the game inside the UTSA box and spending 83 percent of their own possessions in the TAMU-CC half. Amidst UTSA’s 17-7 shot advantage, the Roadrunners placed 11 shots on target in Saturday night’s exhibition.
Much like the opening exhibition with Baylor, the Roadrunners took advantage of the preseason opportunities and utilized a big rotation, registering playing time for 24 players on the night.
Goals
UTSA: Michelle Polo (26’), Bri Carrigan (65’)
TAMU-CC: Mai-Lisa Atis (82’)
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
"It’s been a really good preseason. In the first week, we focused on how we need to defend without the ball and this past week we’ve been focused on how we want to attack and create opportunities. Now the challenge is being able to merge both. I thought we did a lot of really good things against Baylor and a lot of really good things tonight against Corpus. Outshooting them 17-7 and having 11 corners, we’re definitely spending a lot of time on our opponent’s end, we’ve just got to get better inside the box to put them in the back of the net. I thought we moved the ball well and we opened up a very organized, disciplined Corpus team. We got a lot of players involved and Michelle Polo found a lot of space in and around the top of the box and get a lot of shots off. She was fantastic and the goal she scored was an absolute screamer. There’s definitely opportunities for her, as well as other players that are going to be able to create opportunities moving forward. It’s just nice to see a couple of our midfielders get on the stat sheet in this result.”
Up Next
Next on the schedule for UTSA is the official home opener, slated for Thursday, Aug. 15 in a program-first meeting with Navy – kicking off at 7 p.m. at Park West. The week will wrap up in a first-ever appearance at San Antonio FC’s Toyota Field, taking on UIW at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 18. Tickets to Sunday’s crosstown matchup are available here.
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