SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA soccer team (7-4-5, 3-3-2 AMER) absolutely laid on the offense to keep Temple (10-5-2, 3-3-2 AMER) on its heels the entire game, leaning on a Leah Varela penalty kick to secure the winning result in Sunday’s 1-0 Senior Day victory at the Park West Athletics Complex. Going undefeated in four of their last five, the Roadrunners sent their seniors off with the win, honoring Jasmine Kessler, Kameron Kloza and Taliyah Spain in a postgame ceremony.
UTSA amped up its pressure on the visiting Owls from the opening kick, creating four quality chances in the opening 10 minutes, while Temple barely treaded on UTSA’s half in that stretch. Led by a record-tying nine first-half shots from sophomore Brooklyn Bailey, the Roadrunners created a 59-41 percent possession advantage, spending 66 percent of the period in Temple’s half and outshooting the Owls 14-2 in the opening 45 minutes.
Set up by a VAR-confirmed handball in the box, sophomore Varela went to the left corner off her right foot on a 40th-minute penalty kick, beating Ana Zivkovic for the 1-0 advantage heading into the break. It was Varela’s third goal of the season, with all three coming from the dot – bringing her point total to a team-high 15.
Out of the break, UTSA continued to pour it on offensively, but the Owls started to get some movement going with quick shots out of halftime. Though Temple added a little more pressure to the mix, the Roadrunners held the Owls without an on-goal attempt in the second half. Meanwhile, the Roadrunners added five more on-target chances from nine additional shots in the second period.
Leading the charge, Bailey finished with 12 shots and a career-high five shots on goal – setting a new single-game shots record, while bypassing Simone Boye’s 2012 record (9) against Idaho in the 64th minute and adding three more to the new program-high total. She was hardly alone, as Varela and redshirt sophomore Ava Jackson each notched three takes apiece, among six shooters that collected 13 on-goal attempts from 23 shots.
In goal, senior Jasmine Kessler only needed to field one first-half save to add to a pair of her career records, growing her career win total to 29 and solo shutouts to 19 with her third clean sheet of the year.
Her counterpart, Zivkovic, remained busy all day while tallying 11 saves to keep things close.
Goals
TEM: None
UTSA: Leah Varela (40’)
Quoting Coach Derek Pittman
“We’re really happy we were able to get the result for our seniors today. I thought our players really did a phenomenal job of executing the game plan and carrying out what we talked about doing against a very good Temple team. We were on the front foot; it was unfortunate not to score a few more but Temple’s goalkeeper made some big saves and cleared a couple off the line. There were plenty of chances for us, but the overall attitude to get the job done and get these three points was critical. Thankful for that and want to keep that momentum going heading into next week.”
UP NEXT: Two more games remain in the regular season, hitting unusual days as the season winds down. On Friday next week, UTSA will travel to North Texas, closing out the slate on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at home with Florida Atlantic coming to Park West. For the top six teams in the league, the American Championships will run from Nov. 8-14 at the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.
- UTSA -