SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA soccer team (4-0-3) extended its unbeaten streak to seven games and poured on some aggressive offense to run past the visiting UIW Cardinals (3-4-1) in Thursday’s Hometown Showdown at the Park West Athletics Complex. Sophomore Sofia Peters earned the brace with her first two career goals, bookending redshirt sophomore Leah Varela’s penalty goal – making the most of a pair of Varela assists, with the Roadrunners knocking out the 3-1 crosstown victory to remain perfect in the nine-year series.
The Roadrunners distinctly came out on the front foot offensively, racking up 11 shots in the first 19 minutes before the Cardinals could register a single attempt, controlling 65 percent of first-half possessions and living in the Cardinals’ final third 57 percent of the half. It was that 11th shot for the Roadrunners that became a game-changer, as Peters collected Varela’s shot ricochet from the keeper’s punch and headed her first career goal for the lead in the 18th minute.
UTSA continued to pour it on with a 9-2 shot advantage over the next 23 minutes, with a foul deep in the box providing the next scoring opportunity – this time to Varela in the 41st minute, who fired a penalty rocket from 12 yards out into the top left corner past a diving Hannah Alexander for the 2-0 advantage, the eventual game-winner and her first career goal.
The Cardinals were able to make good on their own penalty opportunity, after replay placed Peri Olmo for a penalty kick in the 44th minute – sending the teams into half with a 2-1 UTSA lead and a 21-4 UTSA shot advantage – as Alexander logged nine of her 10 saves in the opening frame.
UTSA finally put the game on ice in the 80th minute, as Varela’s free kick brought Alexander out of position to knock the ball away, and Peters swept the rebound inside the right post for the 3-1 advantage.
In total, the Roadrunners registered 30 shots on the night, tying for the ninth-most shots in a UTSA game and only the second time reaching 30 since 2011. The Roadrunners placed 13 shots on target. Topping the effort, sophomore Brooklyn had five shots to match her conference-leading pace, while Varela went 4-for-4 on goal and four other Roadrunners registered three shots apiece; Bri Carrigan, Sadie Paul, Sabrina Taber and Dulci Binns. In goal, Jasmine Kessler logged four saves.
For Peters, it was the first brace for a UTSA player since 2024, while Varela tied for the third-most points in a game, logging the first five-point outing since 2019.
Goals
UIW: Peri Olmo (44’)
UTSA: Sofia Peters (18’), Leah Varela (41’), Sofia Peters (80’)
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
“Coming out of East Texas A&M, the team talked heavily that we are not playing to our identity and who we truly are capable of being. On Sunday, we came together and talked about being a gritty team, they trained that way all this week and carried that into tonight. To keep stacking those types of days in training and to come out and put up that type of performance against a solid UIW team was really exciting to see and something we can be proud of. I thought it was one of our best total performances, I thought we absolutely dominated the game and controlled the ball exactly how we wanted; it was a great team win tonight.”
UP NEXT: UTSA rounds out the non-conference schedule with perennial powerhouse Santa Clara coming to Park West for the first meeting between these teams. The Roadrunners and Broncos will face off on Thursday, Sept. 17 in the Rowdy Rodeo game for UTSA.
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