The University of Texas Permian Basin soccer team will have a new look when they step onto the pitch in the fall. The Falcons graduated seven players and also have a new Head Coach, Garrett Kull who is excited to take the reins of the soccer program. 

"It's tough to put it in words, obviously this is a great honor this a great University that I now get the opportunity to represent," said Coach Kull. "I've been thrilled with everyone I've had the opportunity to meet with on campus. I've inherited a terrific group of young women. They have been hungry and motivated to get started with this process. When you step into a role like this obviously there are things that need to change. But it makes it a lot easier when you know that you have the backing from the University, the Athletics Department, and the players."  

Heading into his first season as head coach, Kull is eager to see his team succeed on the pitch. However, he's equally focused on ensuring the players enjoy the game while building a strong foundation for long-term success.  

"We want to bring fun back to this game for these players. This is not their job on a day-to-day basis, this is what they love to do. So, we try to motivate them with that," said Coach Kull. "We want to produce successful people at the end of the day, so that's a lot of what I'm geared towards and what we are trying to teach."  

Kull brings a wealth of experience to the program with a decade of experience at the NCAA DI, DII, DIII and NAIA levels. He comes to UTPB from Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU), where he served as the head men's soccer coach for two seasons (2023-24). In 2023, Kull led the Aggies to their third-winningest season in program history, the program's first win against an NCAA DII opponent, and the most College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Teams selections in the conference. 

Spring season is underway 

The Falcons returned to the pitch this week – Tuesday, January 21 to be exact - as they kicked off their spring season in 20-degree weather. 

"I loved our energy today. I saw a lot of smiles, even when we were trying something new, and we weren't getting the hang of it right off the bat. There was a total embrace of saying we are happy to be back together, we are happy to be out on the pitch, we are going to control what we can control. That's a buzz phrase for a lot of coaches. But that's something we really try to talk about in the locker room. One of the exercises we did today is obviously it is cold out here. Take that complaint say it in your mind, alright now leave it in the locker room. There is no room for excuses when we stepped out there and every player stepped in and embraced that," said Coach Kull.  

It is a long way away before the Falcons play their first game of the season. But despite that, Coach Kull already a goal for his team that he would like to accomplish this season.  

"The goal for us right now is to be 1-0 and control what we can control. We are really focused on facing that invisible opponent. We are not playing against anybody right now, so we are playing against ourselves," said Coach Kull. "If I can stand here in a year and I can see we have made progress in that, I think we would have been successful. Obviously, our goal is to play one more game at the end of next year than was promised, so that's making the conference tournament. That's the level we are trying to get to and that's obviously going to be a tough challenge in this conference." 

Preparing for the fall season 

When you look back to last season, the Falcons tied the regular season and tournament champions Angelo State and had a lot of tough tight competitive matches. "We are on the cusp of being a successful program within this conference. We're looking at finding some stability and building that culture from day one. It really doesn't come down to what the wins and losses are. It's a little bit of that gut feeling saying we're getting closer, r we're laying the foundation, and we're moving in the right direction," said Kull.  

While the Falcons will have a lot of spots to fill this offseason, they have a lot of solid players returning from last year, including four of their top five goal scorers form the 2024 season: Cassandra Ramirez, Lara Brewis, Sophie Dionissiou, and Andrea Garcia. The Falcons will also be returning their goalkeeper Valeria Delgado, who was named the Lone Star Conference Goalkeeper of the Week for the week ending on Sunday, September 29, 2024.

"Moving forward, the players that have been here have to step up and we have to look through the transfer portal to be able to fill some major gaps right now and obviously get out on the road and find some quality freshman that are going to be able to impact us," said Coach Kull.  

As of right now the Falcons are scheduled to open up the Lone Star Conference season on September 25 at home vs Texas A&M International. The non-conference games have not been scheduled.