ODESSA, Texas (October 8, 2025) – After allowing a pair of first-half goals by the Pioneers, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's soccer team pitched a shutout in the second half in a 2-0 home loss against Texas Woman's University on Wednesday night.

TWU (9-1-1 overall, 5-1-1 Lone Star Conference) did a great job of playing to the feet of their teammates in the first half, a great example being the first goal of the match in which the Pioneers' picked up the rare double assist on a pair of nice touch passes, resulting in a score by Jaida Arizmendi just eight minutes into the match.

Goal number two for the Pioneers came 14 minutes later after a great cross from Lupita Bueno, who sent her pass from near midfield all the way into the box, where Giselle Gutierrez was waiting and finished with the goal. Gutierrez also had the primary assist on TWU's first goal of the match.

"Tonight was a gut check for us," said UTPB Head Women's Soccer Coach Garrett Kull. "Unfortunately we didn't come out and play to our standard in the first half. You can't do that in this conference because teams will punish you."

UTPB's (2-6-1, 1-6-0) lone shot of the first half was a shot high on a free kick by Cassandra Ramirez 13 minutes in.

During last season's matchup between the two teams in Denton, Texas, UTPB was held to just one shot in the second half, making it two halves in a row the Pioneers were able to limit the Falcons to just one attempt.

In the second half of this meeting, however, the Falcons showcased a great response to fire up their head coach.

UTPB finished with five shot attempts in the second half, the first two coming from Allyson Reed to help set the tone, and then the Falcons' first shot on goal of the match came on a long but well-struck attempt by Trinity Vasquez in the 58th minute.

"What I was proud of is how the team responded in the second half," added Coach Kull. "I thought we came out of the locker room with urgency and put TWU on the back foot for the first 15 minutes. While we were down 2-0, you would've thought the game was 0-0 with how we played and the energy from the bench."

Pitching the second-half shutout and making five saves after coming in at halftime was Alexia Hernandez, a freshman from Odessa, Texas, who made a strong diving save stretching out to her right in the 81st minute.

In the end, TWU finished with 11 total shots and five shots on goal in each half. In addition, it was the third straight shutout the Falcons have suffered at the hands of the Pioneers, the latter part of a stretch that has seen UTPB be shutout in five of its last six matches vs. TWU.

Coach Kull remains optimistic about his team this season, saying, "This is a good, tough team. There's been a lot of talk about how young we are, but we're focused on the right now. We have an opportunity going into the second half to do something special."

Next up, UTPB will head back to the road to play at St. Edward's University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, in Austin, Texas.