Nine months ago, on an unseasonably warm day on the South Plains of Texas, the moment that could transform a soccer team’s outlook took hold.

UTSA fell 2-1 to Texas Tech in the opening round of the NCAA Division I women’s soccer tournament on Nov. 14, 2025, at the John Walker Complex in Lubbock. The Roadrunners battled gallantly, overcoming an early 1-0 deficit to tie the contest at 1-1 early in the second half before yielding the decisive goal with 13 1/2 minutes remaining.

For a team that long ago embraced a feel-good underdog role, this wasn’t a moment for celebrating a moral victory. It wasn’t a glass-half-full occasion, either. What it essentially turned into was a realization that holding its own against opponents with bigger name recognition wasn’t cutting it anymore. The intangible gave way to the tangible.

“It’s not just to stay with these teams,” UTSA coach Derek Pittman said. “It’s how can we start beating them? We want to put ourselves in a position where our players believe that anyone, anytime, we can match up and play really good ball against them.”

UTSA, the defending American Athletic Conference champion, will have prime opportunities this season to prove its worth, starting with its season opener at home vs. rival Texas State at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Park West Complex. Four days later, the Roadrunners travel to play at No. 6 TCU, which a year ago was one win shy of playing for the national championship. Two-time national champion Santa Clara comes to the Alamo City on Sept. 17, and a date at No. 21 Memphis is scheduled for Oct. 22.

“We have the ability (to defeat those teams), we just have to go out there and play the best soccer we can,” UTSA sophomore forward Brooklyn Bailey said after her team’s 1-1 draw vs. Texas in a preseason exhibition on Aug. 5. “We want to go in and give them a fight and a battle.”

The Roadrunners have soared drastically from their humble beginnings 20 years ago, when they played their inaugural season. Home matches were played at the school’s recreation field, with seating comprised of a few portable bleachers and lawn chairs. The team now has an on-site fieldhouse with office space for coaches, a locker room, an athletic training center and a conference room. UTSA last year drew more than 7,000 fans to its home games, a school record.

“To know where this program came from, to where we are now, it’s been immense,” Pittman said. “We talk about it all the time — we want to leave the jersey in a better place.”

The trajectory is high this season for the Roadrunners, who will have a mixture of experience and youth with the return of all-region goalkeeper Jasmine Kessler and defender Kameron Kloza and starters and key contributors Bri Carrigan, Bailey, Aaliyaiah Durden, Ava Jackson, Leah Varela, Addi O’Kelley and Isabel Peters, and were selected to finish second behind Memphis in the AAC in the league’s preseason coaches poll.

“It’s nice to be noticed, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really mean anything,” said Durden, a redshirt junior defender. “We still have to work for everything we get.
We do have a lot of new faces, but I feel like our goals and team culture are the same. I feel like we have the right personalities to continue that journey.”

Texas State represents the first hurdle in that trek. The Bobcats, who a year ago won the Sun Belt Conference crown and advanced to the NCAA tournament and are now in the Pac-12 Conference, sport a roster with local and global flavor, including
Alamo Heights graduates Brooke Martinez (Texas transfer) and Lilah Dupree, Clemens alum Sanai Stewart and players from Spain, Ghana, Japan, France and El Salvador.

The teams haven’t played since 2024 — a 1-0 triumph for Texas State — and the Bobcats lead the all-time series 6-4-2. The last six meetings have each been decided by a goal.

“They’ve got a different look,” Pittman said. “They’re going to have an international flair to them that is definitely going to ask some different questions of us. They were fantastic last year. I know we’re going to get a really talented team.”

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