ODESSA, Texas (September 10, 2024) – The second match of the season for The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) women's soccer team saw the first victory for Garrett Kull as the new Head Coach of the Falcons. Freshman outside back Trinity Vasquez scored UTPB's first goal of the season in the 21st minute while UTPB's top projected goal scorer this season, Cassandra Ramirez, scored in both the 33rd and 83rd minutes to lead the Falcons to a 3-1 win over Wayland Baptist University on Wednesday night at the UTPB Soccer Field.

Vasquez scored the first goal of the year for UTPB (1-0-1) with a shot from about the 30-yard line beautifully placed right over the goalkeeper. It was the first deficit of the season for the Pioneers 291 minutes into their season.

The Falcons then made it 2-0 at halftime when Andrea Garcia sent her corner kick on a short pass to Ramirez, who tucked the ball into the left pocket of the goal all the way from the right side.

After WBU (3-1-0) got on the board in the 71st minute, Ramirez notched her second goal of the match with a one-on-one attack against the keeper.

"It's always rewarding to get your first win with a program, but I'm really proud of the team tonight in how they played," spoke Coach Kull regarding his first win with the Falcons. "Even though we gave up a goal in the second half, the team was able to respond and put the match away. I think we learned a lot about our team tonight, which is this team has a lot of grit and fight. A lot of teams shrink in those moments, but for us to not only respond, but score, shows we can put matches away, which is always promising with a young team."

It was the first multi-goal match of her career for Ramirez, who nearly made it a hat trick with an opportunity in the 85th minute. Ramirez took the pass from Maria Tarrago, made her way down field and made a terrific move dancing back inside past her defender before getting tripped up by another defender and having her shot blocked.

Ramirez finished with a career-high 10 shot attempts, including seven shots on goal. She also added an assist on the first goal of the match by Vasquez, giving her a career-high five points for the match.

UTPB outshot WBU 7-2 in the first half before the Pioneers upped their aggression in the second period and matched the Falcons with seven shots in the second half.

In all, UTPB led 14-9 overall on shots and 9-1 on shots on goal.

Coach Kull said about his team's scoring effort tonight, "It was a relief to finally put the ball in the back of the net, but even better when the contribution comes from a freshman. Cassie Ramirez continued to show she's a threat in front of goal and scoring a brace is only going to help her grow in confidence. However, we still haven't put all of our offense together."

Six Falcons played all 90 minutes in the match, including goalkeeper Valeria Delgado for the second match in a row.

It was the first loss of the season for WBU, which entered the match with a record of 3-0 and a 9-2 scoring advantage on the season.

Next up for the Falcons will be their third straight home match to open up the 2025 season. UTPB plays host to the University of Texas at Tyler for its first Lone Star Conference match of the season at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17. The Falcons will look to use the momentum gained from their first win with Coach Kull to take down the Patriots.