ODESSA, Texas (August 27, 2025) – Heading into the 2025 UT Permian Basin women's soccer season with new energy, the Falcons had three athletes named to the Lone Star Conference preseason players to watch list. As a team, UTPB was projected to finish 13th in the conference, receiving 146 total points.

UTPB finished the 2024 season with a record of 4-10-3 overall and 2-9-2 in the LSC. However, it will be a new era for the Falcons as Garrett Kull was announced as the fifth head coach in UT Permian Basin Women's Soccer history on December 23, 2024. Kull comes to UTPB from Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU), where he served as the head men's soccer coach for two seasons (2023-24). Kull came to OPSU after serving as the men's assistant coach at Lehigh University (2022). Prior to his time with the Mountain Hawks, Kull was the assistant men's coach and recruiting coordinator at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (2020-21) and the assistant men's coach and reserves coach at Schreiner University (2018-19). He also served as a volunteer assistant women's soccer coach at both Lehigh (2022) and OPSU (2024) before now taking over the women's program at UTPB. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Kull grew up in Prattville, Alabama, where he received All-Metro honors for Prattville High School '14. He graduated from Huntingdon College '18 in Montgomery, Alabama, where he played as both a field player and goalkeeper.

UTPB's preseason players to watch included junior forward Cassandra Ramirez, senior midfielder Natalia Salas, and junior goalkeeper Valeria Delgado. It is the second straight year being named to the preseason watch list for Delgado. Ramirez and Salas, meanwhile, were two of just three Falcons to start in all 17 matches during the 2024 season.

Ramirez played a career-high 1,501 minutes and finished second on the team with three goals scored. She also added one assist to land second on the team with seven total points. Ramirez led the Falcons with 52 total shot attempts and 21 shots on goal. She scored a goal in each of UTPB's first three home matches of the season and recorded at least one point in four straight matches (Sept. 9-25). Subsequently, Ramirez was named UTPB's inaugural Edgardo Madrid & Associates Women's Student-Athlete of the Month for September. Her nine shot attempts at Midwestern State (Oct. 29) were tied for the second most in the LSC. In all, Ramirez ranked fifth in the LSC in both total shots (52) and shots per match (3.06), and was ninth in shots on goal per match (1.24).

Salas played a career-high 1,406 minutes, tied for the team lead with two assists from her midfield position, scored one goal and was tied for fifth on the team with four points. She played in all 17 matches and had four points for the second season in a row. She also had 18 shot attempts and put half of those attempts on goal. She had four points, scoring one goal and dishing out two assists, in a 6-2 win at Wayland Baptist (Sept. 19), UTPB's most goals in a match in 10 seasons. Salas was named to the 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® Team.

Delgado started in goal in all 13 of her matches played last season, finishing with 31 saves and 14 goals allowed on 98 shots faced. She had a 1.19 goals-against average and a .689 save percentage in 1,059 minutes, had three shutouts, and played all 90 minutes in 11 matches while holding the opponent to one goal or less in seven of those matches. Delgado was named the LSC Goalkeeper of the Week after recording a shutout on the road against Oklahoma Christian (Sept. 28), the Falcons' fist win over OC in 10 years, and leading UTPB to an unbeaten start two matches into LSC play. She made a season-high in saves (6), each of which came in the first half, in her final match of the season at Midwestern State (Oct. 29). Delgado was ranked sixth in the LSC in goals-against average (1.1), 10th in shutouts per match (.231), tied for 10th in total shutouts (3), 12th in save percentage (.689), and 13th in saves per match (2.38).

"We are super excited to have our players make the preseason watch list," said Coach Kull. "We are expecting big things out of these three, and we hope that what they bring to the team will not only show up on the field, but also in their leadership inside the locker room."

In the preseason poll, five-time Lone Star Conference champion DBU was predicted to again win the LSC women's soccer championship. DBU totaled 650 points and collected 29 of the possible 45 first-place votes. The Patriots were 14-2-5 overall and 10-1-2 in league play last season. The Patriots appeared in a sixth straight LSC tournament title match and reached the second round of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship. DBU finished the 2024 season ranked in the top 15 in the country.

Defending LSC regular season and tournament champion Angelo State is the pick as conference runner-up with 634 points and 13 first-place votes. The Rambelles went 14-2-5 overall and 9-0-3 in league play last year on their way to a fifth regular season title and third tournament crown. ASU advanced all the way to the NCAA Division II national quarterfinals.

TWU is picked to finish third with 556 points and garnered one first-place vote. The Pioneers finished 12-4-3 overall and 7-2-3 in 2024. Midwestern State, who advanced to the NCAA tournament last season, is picked fourth with 511 points. St. Mary's is fifth with 468 points, followed by SEU (435 points), Lubbock Christian (392 points) and Oklahoma Christian (358 points) to round out what would be the potential eight qualifiers for the LSC tournament.

UT Tyler is picked in ninth with 347 points and West Texas A&M completes the top 10 with 284 points. Texas A&M International is 11th with 244 points, followed by new league member UT Dallas (168 points), UT Permian Basin (146 points), Eastern New Mexico (124 points) and Sul Ross State (83 points). TAMIU and SRSU each picked up a first-place vote.

The preseason poll and preseason players of the year are voted on by LSC head coaches, sports information directors and media members.

"We are grateful to receive the position that we did in the preseason poll, but we believe the results will show on the field," concluded Coach Kull. "I think it gives us a good understanding of what people are expecting from us in this conference, and we obviously hope to exceed those expectations."

The LSC women's soccer season begins as early as September 4. To see the league schedule, click here. The LSC women's soccer tournament will be held Nov. 7 (first round), Nov. 10 (quarterfinals), Nov. 13 (semifinals) and Nov. 16 (final). The first round and quarterfinal matches are played at the site of the higher seed. The semifinals and final rounds are hosted by the No. 1 seed. LSC soccer matches can be viewed live on FloCollege.

The Falcons will take the pitch for the first time under Coach Kull on Thursday, September 4, hosting Colorado State University Pueblo starting at 7 p.m. at the UTPB Soccer Field.