CANYON, Texas (October 15, 2025) – The University of Texas Permian Basin women's soccer team scored twice in the final four minutes of the first half and ultimately tied West Texas A&M University 2-2 on a windy Wednesday night at The Pitch.

UTPB's Head Women's Soccer Coach Garrett Kull spoke on the match, "It was definitely a battle tonight with over 30 fouls in the game between both teams. I was really proud that we held our won, but we didn't get rattled by the physical play. We have a standard we expect to play to and the team upheld that. We compete, but we are always going to try and do it with discipline."

It was a shaky first 41 minutes of the match defensively for UTPB. Less than six minutes into the match, a bad clearance on a throw by Valeria Delgado created an opportunity for the Lady Buffs to draw a foul in the box and be awarded a penalty kick. The penalty try by Jezmin Castellanos Reyes was saved by Delgado diving to her right, and then the follow-up shot by the Lady Buffs on the ricochet saw an attempt by Lawrencia Yeboah that just missed wide.

Yeboah would later break past the UTPB defense in the 12th minute, but was called for offsides. It was the first of two offsides calls in the first half and three for the match against the Lady Buffs.

After surviving the penalty kick, the back of UTPB's defense nearly made another costly mistake as the Lady Buffs stole the ball and appeared to score 16 minutes in, but a handball in the box wiped the goal away.

23 minutes in, WT nearly had another scoring chance in the box as Alicia Cohen got past Delgado and had only Ella Bertram trying to keep her from getting to the loose ball, but Bertram was able to draw the foul to stop the advance.

UTPB did not get its first shot of the match until the 30th minute when Mariela Ojeda made a nice move around her defender and put up a good look from outside the box, but it was right at the goalkeeper, Franciezca Blancaflor.

WT would break through first in the 32nd minute as a high corner kick by Bailey Malone found the turf and was kicked around in front of the goal before Cohen was able to knock it into the goal.

However, about 10 and a half minutes later, UTPB found the equalizer on a corner kick of its own as Natalia Salas delivered the kick into the box, where it found the head of freshman Sarah Williams, who less than two minutes after checking into the match, directed it into the back of the net for her first career goal.

It was the first goal scored for UTPB since September 20, ending a span of six scoreless matches.

A re-energized Falcons' squad kept its momentum going with a free kick by Allyson Reed, who with a strong wind at her back and from just inside the mid-line, saw her shot hit between the crossbar and the goalkeeper before bouncing back into the goal. It was the first goal as a Falcon for Reed, a transfer forward from Angelo State University who was a member of the 2023 Lone Star Conference All-Freshmen Team.

"It was definitely a relief to finally score not just one goal, but two," said Coach Kull. "We've been waiting to see who would break the tie, and both Sarah Williams and Allyson Reed had it coming at some point. I think a nod also goes to Coach Chloe Fell on setting up the corner kick routine that we scored on."

Unfortunately, early in the second half, Cohen was able to drive through a number of UTPB defenders and finish past Delgado for her second goal of the match in the 59th minute. Only 30 seconds later, Cohen just missed wide shooting across the box as she was feeling it and tried to give her team the lead.

UTPB nearly took back the lead in the 68th minute as a nice pass by Cassandra Ramirez curved perfectly into the path of a running Reed as Blancaflor came in off-balance but was able to make the save as Reed attempted to tap it past her. It would be the only shot of the second half for the Falcons.

The final near-goal of the match came approaching the final four minutes as a free kick by WT's Lauren Stokes led to an opportunity in front of the goal by Adjeley Kpobi, who mishit the shot high.

Cohen led all players with five shot attempts while Reed led the Falcons with three shots, and both players finished with two shots on goal. In addition, the Lady Buffs had one more shot on goal than the Falcons (5-4) as Delgado made three saves and Blancaflor had two.

After standing up to WT's physical play all match long and helping UTPB get its first goal of the match with a great pass on her corner kick, Coach Kull made sure to recognize the effort by Natalia Salas.

"I think for us, the heart of our performance tonight was Natalia Salas," said Coach Kull. "When you talk about a player who leaves it all on the field, that's Nati, and that's why she's one of our captains. She put her body on the line a lot tonight and had some critical moments to help us gain the result."

UTPB moves to 2-7-2 overall and 1-7-1 in the LSC while WT is now 4-6-2 and 1-6-1. It was the first-ever tie between the two teams and was the first-ever positive result for the Falcons on the road at WT in 12 matches.

Next up, UTPB will finish off the week at home against Oklahoma Christian University. The so-called "Battle of the Birds" is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, from the UTPB Soccer Field.