SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA soccer team (7-5-5, 3-3-3 AMER) closed up the 2025 home slate on Sunday against East Carolina (6-6-4, 4-3-2 AMER) with Senior Day at Park West. The visiting Pirates were able to squeeze out a 2-1 win over the Roadrunners after a pair of netted balls were waved off and UTSA couldn’t make up the difference in the 2-1 setback. Following Sunday’s home finale, UTSA soccer recognized its five outgoing graduating players and one graduate student manager: Haley Lopez, Izzy Lane, Rylee Miller, Zoё May, Michelle Polo and Steeden Jefferson.
UTSA came out firing and kept the Pirates on the run early. It seemed the Roadrunners had gained an early advantage in the 18th minute when Emelie Ekman crossed a perfect pass to the inside post where Leah Varela fired one over goalkeeper Olivia Dietrich at point-blank range. However, officials initially ruled the play offsides and went to VAR for a lengthy replay review, unable to find enough to overturn the call and leaving the score at 0-0.
The Pirates were held without a shot until the 23rd minute, but their second attempt was a difference-maker, as AJ Mayock scored a header off a corner kick for the go-ahead goal on their last shot of the half.
It looked like the Roadrunners might find the equalizer before halftime, but once again the netted ball from 22 yards off the crossbar from Addi O’Kelley was wiped out by a foul whistle as she shot – ending the period with ECU up 1-0.
Out of the locker room for the second half, UTSA opened with back-to-back corners and racked up four shots in the first 10 minutes out of the new frame. The Roadrunners kept the pressure on the Pirates, but an ECU interception proved to be the gamewinner, as Isabella Gutiérrez took the steal and lifted a long ball to the net in the 80th minute to extend the lead to 2-0.
Into the final minutes, the Roadrunners put on the pressure and chipped the lead down to a single goal as forward Michelle Polo beat Dietrich off Izzy Lane’s free kick in the 85th minute. UTSA worked furiously to even things up late, with three more solid shots in the final five minutes, resulting in a save and two blocks to send the result final at 2-1 in East Carolina’s favor.
In a near inverse of UTSA’s win last year in Greenville, the Roadrunners logged a 22-4 shot advantage with five on-target shots and seven blocked by Pirate defenders. Varela took a career-high six shots with two on goal, while Polo matched her career high with five shots in her final Park West appearance.
Goals
UTSA: Michelle Polo (85’)
ECU: AJ Mayock (24’), Isabella Gutiérrez (80’)
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
“We have a lot of tough, hard-working competitors on our team and I feel unfortunate we weren’t able to find a way to get a result. ECU did enough and we didn’t. I can’t fault the toughness of our kids and the way they played, we just got punished for two errors. Our kids kept fighting, kept competing, kept doing everything they could to pull themselves back into the game, it was just unfortunately too little too late.”
UP NEXT: The Roadrunners close off the season on the road in Philadelphia, taking on Temple next Thursday afternoon. The Roadrunners head east looking for a positive result, which would clinch the squad a spot in the American Championships for the first time since joining the league.
- UTSA -