UTSA lost to their first American Athletic Conference opponent, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2-1 on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Park West Athletics Complex.
The Roadrunners (5-2, 0-0-1 AAC) officially began conference play against UAB (3-2-1, 0-0-1 AAC). With a 2-3-2 record against their nine-time opponent, the ‘Runners were looking to even out the playing field. Despite UTSA’s success rate at home, the Blazers have managed to beat the Roadrunners 3-1 at home in 2017 and tie 1-1 in 2021 at Park West.
Following a scoreless first half, senior forward Olivia Alvarez quickly carried the ball into the left side of UAB’s third. Alvarez was chased down by junior midfielder Brielle Rochester. The two managed to run a circle around one another as they fought to claim the ball.
Alvarez and Rochester nearly ran the ball out of the field but Alvarez got her right foot on top of the ball, maneuvered it backward to the goal area and crossed the ball right in front of the goal.
Freshman forward Addy Johnson was in perfect position to score. She got directly under Alvarez’s high ball and scored a header right through the bottom of the goal in the 49th minute.
Johnson was named the AAC Freshman of the Week after scoring twice against Central Arkansas on Sunday. This was Johnson’s third goal of the season.
“It feels good, it’s a good accomplishment,” Johnson said of her goal and receiving the award. “We still have a lot of our season ahead of us; we have a lot of other accomplishments to make as a team. It was a good reward, but now we have to keep moving forward and move on from it. This is a really tough loss because it’s our first conference [game].”
Conference play proved to be aggressive and defensive. There were 16 fouls called on the Roadrunners and three yellow cards awarded to junior forward Izzy Lane, senior defender Sasjah Dade and sophomore defender Sophie Morrin.
“Honestly, it’s on us coaches,” coach Derek Pittman said of the reason for UTSA’s loss. “Our players carried out the game plan flawlessly. They did exactly what we asked them to, connected the passes we needed to, defended the amount we needed to.”
“After we went up one nothing, us coaches, we were too late to make the adjustments we needed to and they made theirs, we’ve gotta be better for our team,” Pittman said.
The foul called on Morrin was due to tripping UAB senior midfielder Kendall Page, which cost UTSA its lead advantage. A free kick made by Blazer sophomore defender Maia Sirota found its way past sophomore keeper Jasmine Kessler to even out the score.
A late game foul in the 85th minute was called on junior defender Rylee Low which awarded the Blazers a free kick. Junior midfielder Abbey Burns took a right upper shot on goal and scored the game-winning goal for UAB.
The ‘Runners and Blazers have been competing in the same conferences since UTSA joined Conference USA in 2013, and both made a move to the AAC in 2023. Both teams came into this game with a perfect record at home. The Blazers maintain their 2-0 record at home.
Going into the game, UTSA was ranked two schools higher than UAB was. Going into the season, UTSA was slated to finish seventh in the conference but currently hold fifth place with their 5-2 record. The Roadrunners now hold the eighth spot in conference standings while the Blazers shot up to the fourth spot. Every school in women’s AAC soccer played tonight except for Memphis.
UTSA will continue conference play against East Carolina University at 6 p.m. Sept. 19 at Johnson Stadium.
