Simply going off of metrics, the UTSA women’s soccer team seems to have more going right than wrong for itself. The Roadrunners have an unbeaten record, are scoring goals at a pace rarely seen in their history and, except for a few moments on set pieces, have been solid defensively.

Yet a week ago, the squad left the Dallas-Fort Worth area feeling like a wet blanket following a last-second win at East Texas A&M. The woe-is-us disposition stems from a sentiment that a team that last year won its conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament wasn’t playing to its potential. A re-dedication meeting a few days later served as a course correction.

“It wasn’t the best performance,” UTSA coach Derek Pittman said of the 2-1 decision vs. East Texas A&M on Sept. 3 that was won on sophomore forward Brooklyn Bailey’s goal with 14 seconds left. “It was ugly, on the road, but we found a way. We knew we hadn’t played our best soccer. We kept talking about, ‘What does our best look like? What are we genuinely capable of?’ “

The answer to those questions was displayed on Thursday night. Sophomore defender Sofia Peters scored two goals and was integral to a stout defensive effort as UTSA topped crosstown foe Incarnate Word 3-1 in a non-conference match at Park West Complex.

“Honestly, one of our most complete games up to this point in time,” Pittman said. “Really proud of them.”

The 6-foot-1 Peters’ goals bookended the contest, giving UTSA (4-0-3) a fast start and an exclamation point as it remained unbeaten vs. the Cardinals (3-4-1), who have their final tune-up before starting Southland Conference play when they host Abilene Christian at 1 p.m. Sunday at Benson Stadium.

With the Roadrunners hanging onto a 2-1 advantage despite unleashing 30 shots — only the second time since 2011 they have accomplished the feat — Peters collected the rebound of a free kick by teammate Leah Varela that was deflected by Incarnate Word goalkeeper Hannah Alexander and slotted a low and slow roller to the right post with 10 1/2 minutes left to play. Alexander finished with 10 saves. Peters scored her first collegiate goal less than 19 minutes into the encounter when she headed in a shot from Varela that glanced off the crossbar.

“I was pretty happy with one,” Peters said after registering what she believes is her first two-goal game in her career. “Two always feel good. I feel like I was in the right place at the right time a lot of the time. I think that just really helped me out.”

Incarnate Word, which has played the likes of Miami, SMU and No. 19-ranked Texas in the preseason, pulled within 2-1 just before halftime when junior forward Peri Olmo converted on a penalty kick after VAR (video assistant referee) ruled a UTSA player had committed a foul inside the penalty area. It was the second PK in less than three minutes. The Roadrunners had built a 2-0 margin when Varela, a redshirt sophomore midfielder, scored her first collegiate goal from the spot after teammate Amelia Clark was fouled inside the penalty area by UIW’s Atiana Lara. Varela also added two assists, becoming the first UTSA player since 2019 to register five points in a game.

“The last couple of minutes of the half we dropped off our level a little bit, but then we got together at halftime and said what we needed to work on, what we were doing good, and we came together and said ‘We need to put this game away,’ ” UTSA senior midfielder Addi O’Kelley said. “We gave a lot of respect to (the Cardinals). They’ve been doing good this year. They had really good results against good teams. We just came in with the mentality of ‘this is a championship game.’ This is always a competitive game for all of us. We knew it was going to be gritty.”

Reinvigorated and refocused at the intermission, the Roadrunners overcame a few anxious moments in the second half to keep UIW, which is 0-4-1 after a 3-0 start, at bay. Forward Zaiba Ishaque, a transfer from Wake Forest, and Morgan Heintz, who starred on Smithson Valley’s undefeated 2026 UIL Class 5A Division I state championship team, entered the contest with three goals apiece but were limited to a combined one shot by the defensive prowess of Peters, Kacey Grahmann and Caroline Pelkofski.

“We’ve played a lot of great teams, and just learning how to come together as a team is really important,” O’Kelley said. “I feel like we’ve been playing a lot better together, and having that right before conference, and just putting all those pieces together is good for us.”

The Roadrunners’ win came in the nightcap of a de facto volleyball-soccer doubleheader. At the Convocation Center, nearly two hours earlier and 2 1/2 miles away, the volleyball team used decisive scoring runs in each set to come away with a 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 triumph vs. Gonzaga in the first match of the Roadrunner Classic.

UTSA (4-2), which has won three in a row, returns to action at 6:30 p.m., Friday vs. East Texas A&M. The team concludes the three-day tournament by taking on Indiana University Indianapolis at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Roadrunners closed out the third set with a 9-2 flurry, overturning a 19-16 deficit. In the second frame, they used a 7-1 spurt to rally from a 9-6 deficit. In the opening stanza, junior outside hitter Isabella Arroyave served four of her six aces during a 10-0 run to flip a 10-8 deficit into an 18-10 advantage. Arroyave’s six aces were one shy of tying the school record and nearly twice as many as she had this season entering the contest. UTSA finished with 10 aces.

Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Gigi Mason led the way with 13 kills and a .478 hitting percentage, and came up clutch along with junior middle hitter Ledisi Kpea down the stretch of the third set. Sydney Bryant, the team’s leader in kills and also a redshirt freshman outside hitter, followed with 12 kills and three blocks. Junior middle blocker Caroline Tredwell contributed seven kills and 2 1/2 blocks as UTSA notched nine total blocks and limited Gonzaga to a .129 hitting clip.

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