SAN ANTONIO – After extending its win streak to four games for the first time since 2022, the UTSA soccer team (6-2-2, 2-0-0 AMER) hits the road for a key league matchup on Thursday night in Alabama. The Roadrunners will face UAB (3-2-5, 0-0-2 AMER) at PNC Field in a bid to remain at the top of the American Conference standings. The Blazers and Roadrunners will kick off at 7 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, with the game broadcast on ESPN+
Following the action
The game will be carried live on ESPN+. UAB Athletics will also provide live stats.
About the Roadrunners
Senior forward Izzy Lane provided the Roadrunners the opportunity to remain league leaders with her 82nd-minute all-in-one gamewinner last Thursday against UNT, making the steal, setting up beyond 25 yards and skipping the goal into the left side of the net. It was the cherry on top of holding the conference’s top-shooting offense to just four shots and only one on goal. Lane received American weekly Honorable Mention alongside freshman midfielder Emelie Ekman, while redshirt senior defender Kameron Kloza was the American’s Defensive Player of the Week. Kloza led a UTSA back line that held UNT 16 shots below average, made 16 recoveries and nine interceptions in the win – helping the Roadrunners to its seventh shutout in 10 chances.
The UNT game was just a sliver of the defensive prowess this season in San Antonio, as UTSA not only ranks 13th nationally in shutout percentage, but is fifth in the NCAA in both goals-against-average (0.30) and save percentage (.914) – leading the American Conference in all three standards.
On the offensive side of the ball, UTSA puts up 13.7 spg with a .405 SOG percentage. Freshman forward Brooklyn Bailey has aggressively racked up numbers, leading the Roadrunners with 17 shots, while redshirt freshman midfielder Leah Varela and Lane each have 14 on the year. Pacing the Roadrunners, senior midfielder Zoë May has collected team highs of three goals on only 12 shots (a .583 SOG percentage), as well as two assists. Redshirt sophomore defender Aaliyaiah Durden has a pair of goals as well, among the seven Roadrunners who have netted one this year.
About the UAB Blazers
Coming into the week at 3-2-5 and 0-0-2 in league games, UAB has continued it propensity for draws into the third season under Lisa Mann. The Blazers opened conference play with a 3-3 tie against Rice and followed up last week in a 1-1 at ninth-ranked Memphis – among their five stalemates on the year. Mann’s Blazers have notched 15 draws across her three seasons in Birmingham.
The Blazers sit at third in the American in GAA at 1.00 as a team but are sixth in the league in save percentage at .762. However, UAB is fourth in the conference in scoring offense with 1.80 gpg off 13.0 shots per game. Led by 2024 all-conference second team senior forward Jette Zimmer and junior forward Avery Berryman with three goals apiece, juniors Lailah Stewart, Ava Mills and Lola Sommer each have two goals as well. In total, 11 Blazers have registered a goal this season. Zimmer, senior Abbey Burns and junior Abby Greaser each have logged three assists for a UAB squad averaging 1.4 apg. Berryman tops the UAB shooters with 21 attempts.
In goal, junior Leah Parsons has started every game after transferring from Oregon, allowing 10 goals with 31 saves to date.
Series history
Thursday will be the 10th meeting in the overall series, with UAB holding a slight edge at 4-2-3. UTSA is looking for its first series win in Birmingham since 2016, and first series win since 2022’s 1-0 overtime victory in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament. Last season at Park West, UAB edged out a 2-1 win on Burns’ 85th-minute penalty kick gamewinner. Last time in Birmingham, the Roadrunners and Blazers battled to a 1-1 draw during both squads’ first season in The American. UTSA’s lone road win in 2016 was a 2-1 late season meeting in October.
UP NEXT: On Sunday, UTSA will return to Park West as hosts to Charlotte in the first two-game conference week so far this season. Sunday’s matchup will kick off at 12 p.m. and will be Hispanic Heritage and International Day.
- UTSA -