SAN ANTONIO – The 2025-26 UTSA school year kicked off on Sunday at the Park West Athletics Complex with the first of two Roadrunners soccer exhibition games. UTSA soccer handily dispatched the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders with an outburst on both ends of the pitch that led to a lopsided 6-0 result.
Making their first 2025 appearance at Park West, the Roadrunners took the field with 17 new players in the pipeline and wasted little time touching the scoreboard. With only 4:45 showing on the clock, junior goalkeeper Jasmine Kessler spotted up a free kick from near 60 yards out and placed the ball above the reach of the Islanders’ keeper to push UTSA in front extremely early.
In the 22nd minute, the Roadrunners doubled their score while Spring, Texas rookie Brooklyn Bailey kicked off a huge individual night on the pitch, slipping her first score low past the keeper, closing out the first of three 30-minute periods with UTSA up 2-0 – outshooting the Islanders 7-0 in the period.
In the 48th minute, it was Bailey again winning the 1v1 battle with the TAMU-CC goalie, netting a goal high over her inside shoulder to extend the advantage to 3-0. With just two seconds remaining in the second period, rookie Leah Varela set a perfect pass-through to junior Michelle Polo, who rotated to beat her defender and dropped UTSA’s fourth goal into the left corner of the net.
Bailey took charge again in the 67th minute, taking advantage of a TAMU-CC miscue with a steal and followed through, driving the field to punch in another for a hat trick on the night. The Roadrunners have yet to secure an in-season hat trick in the program’s 19-year history.
With a big upfield push late, redshirt freshman Ava Jackson took a long pass all the way to the back of the net in the 80th minute to punctuate UTSA’s 6-0 victory.
Offense was clearly on display, but UTSA kept TAMU-CC completely locked up on the opposite end of the pitch. The Roadrunners controlled the pace and ball position all night, outshooting the Islanders 26-1, while TAMU-CC held up 16 saves.
Last season, when the Roadrunners and Islanders met in Corpus Christi, UTSA came away with a 2-1 result.
Goals
UTSA: Jasmine Kessler (4’), Brooklyn Bailey (22’), Brooklyn Bailey (48’), Michelle Polo (59’), Brooklyn Bailey (67’), Ava Jackson (80’)
TAMU-CC: None
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
"Really happy with where we are in the preseason. Our biggest focus has been on our competitive toughness and how we want to be an intense, competitive team – and I think they did exactly that tonight. Full credit to Corpus, they wanted to play and we want to press and it was really positive. I’m excited about our depth and I’m excited about the direction we’re headed, but we know that come Friday night against University of Texas in our next exhibition, we’re going to experience something completely different. We have to be prepared for those and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Up Next
The Roadrunners will travel to Austin and Michael A. Myers Stadium to take on the defending SEC Champion Texas Longhorns on Friday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. The Roadrunners’ 20th season officially kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 14 at Park West against Houston.
Season tickets are on sale now and all UTSA Soccer season tickets are general admission. Season tickets are $65. For an additional $35 at time of purchase (a total price of $100), season-ticket members will receive a limited-edition UTSA Soccer 20th Season scarf and also will be invited to exclusive chalk-talks with head coach Derek Pittman and his staff before select home games.
To purchase season tickets, click here to order online or call the UTSA Athletics Ticket Office at 210-458-8872 during normal business hours.
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