LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – The defending American Conference Champion UTSA soccer team (8-5-5, 4-4-2 AMER) will chase the repeat crown starting on Sunday at the Premier Sports Campus, facing off with Rice (6-7-5, AMER 4-4-2) in the quarterfinal of the American Conference Championships. Both teams tied for fourth in the final standings and Rice is the No. 4 seed, while the Roadrunners are No. 5. The Owls and Roadrunners will kick off at 4 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
On the Air and on the Web
Catch the live broadcast from the Premier Sports Campus on ESPN+, featuring Sean Salisbury (play-by-play) and Jade Barkett (analyst) on the broadcast call.
The American Conference will also provide LIVE STATS from Lakewood Ranch. More information about the tournament and bracket can be found on the conference’s Championship Central Page.
About the Roadrunners
Entering the tournament with the exact same record and seed as last year’s pre-championship run, the Roadrunners won two of the last three outings heading into the weekend. Paced by redshirt sophomore Ava Jackson with four goals, along with three goals apiece from redshirt sophomore Leah Varela, sophomore Brooklyn Bailey and sophomore Sofia Peters, the Roadrunners average 1.4 goals on 13.1 shots, with 6.1 on-target shots and a team .462 accuracy. Varela holds the single-season record of nine assists, which ranks 15th in the nation, while Bailey just set the single-game record of 12 shots against Temple while leading the team with 55 shots – the third-most in a UTSA season. On Friday, Varela made it back-to-back years for UTSA with an all-conference first teamer, and Bailey was selected to the third team. In goal, senior Jasmine Kessler was the 2025 American Championships Most Outstanding Defensive Player and is set for her 71st consecutive start, holding a 1.23 goals-against-average (GAA) with 66 saves on a .750 save percentage.
Under ninth-year coach Derek Pittman, who leads the program’s history in wins and win percentage, the Roadrunners are 6-1-1 in conference tournaments and have claimed the title (and an automatic NCAA berth) in each of the past two appearances under his guidance.
About the Rice Owls
With Rice announcing this week that eighth-year head coach Brian Lee will step down after the season, the Owls came on strong at the right time to take over the fourth seed – collecting two wins and four draws in the final month. The Owls have gotten a big boost this season from 2026 American Conference Freshman of the Year Neerali Kapadia, who leads the league and ranks fifth nationally with 11 assists to pace their strong freshman class, while American third teamer Sloane Popov has logged a team-high eight goals and Lauren Pickup has five more scores as well. Freshman Valentina Labuschagne was All-Freshman and added three more goals with five assists. Rice is putting in 1.8 goals on 14.4 shots, with 6.7 on-goal attempts and a .463 accuracy. In goal, senior Kirsten Ruf has 37 games and holds a 1.29 GAA with 44 saves and a .677 save percentage.
Series history
The series historically tilts toward Rice, with the Owls up 14-4-1 over the past 19 years of UTSA’s longest-running series. However, five of the last seven have been determined by a goal or less, with three UTSA wins in that stretch. To open American play this season, the Owls captured a big 3-0 result at Park West to kick off October, as Eileen Albers, Popov and Pickup each registered scores and Kapadia logged two assists. The prior meeting was on this weekend’s grounds nearly a year ago, when UTSA downed the Owls for the conference title. With 1:23 left in overtime of the conference final, Bri Carrigan drove an open lane down the middle, beating one defender and firing a shot over Ruf into the top left corner for the golden goal title-winner.
UP NEXT: The winner on Sunday will advance to meet the quarterfinal winner between top-seeded Memphis (11-3-3, 8-0-2 AMER) and No. 8 North Texas (6-6-6, 2-3-5 AMER) in a semifinal matchup on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+. The conference final will be Saturday, November 14 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
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