ODESSA, Texas (October 13, 2026) – Taking on one of the hottest teams in the Lone Star Conference, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's soccer team surrendered two second-half goals and was unable to stop Lady Buffs' winning streak on a muggy Tuesday at the UTPB Soccer Field, falling by a final score of 2-0 to West Texas A&M University.
After no shots in the first 12 minutes of the match for either team, WT finally got things going with three straight shot attempts by Mollie Ferro. Then in the 21st minute, a good cross on the ground and across the goal from right to left went to Ferro, who had an open shot attempt but scuffed the shot and missed wide left.
Then after each of the first 10 shot attempts of the match came from the Lady Buffs, UTPB's first shot came in the 27th minute by
Breanna Reagan, who shot right at goalkeeper Franciezca Blancaflor for the save.
WT's second good look at a goal came in the 30th minute when a free kick from 35 yards out by Bailey Malone was crossed into the box and went directly to Bailee Ramirez, who somehow leaped and shot it out of the air. Fortunately,
Valeria Delgado was there for the save for UTPB.
UTPB's best scoring chance of the match came in the 39th minute when a corner kick by
Jayden Murgia led to a header by
Alyssa Pipes and another shot on the follow by Reagan, but both attempts were somehow saved by Blancaflor.
Despite trailing 15-4 on total shot attempts in the first half, it was UTPB which led 3-2 on shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes.
Also in the first half, UTPB was able to limit the two-time reigning LSC Offensive Player of the Week, Riley Sims, to three shots and no shots on goal in the opening period.
For UTPB, Reagan had three total shots and two shots on goal in the first half.
In addition, despite no shortage of shot attempts by the Lady Buffs in the first half, it was still 0-0 on the scoreboard. It was the third home match in a row in which the Falcons shut out their opponent in the first half. This time, however, it came against a team that entered the match averaging three goals per contest during a current four-match winning streak.
Unfortunately, an early second-half corner kick for WT and Sims (assist) led to the first goal of the match on a header into the top, left corner of the goal by Charo Rodriguez Fortea in the 47th minute.
UTPB, meanwhile, struggled to get looks offensively in the second half. The Falcons had back-to-back free kicks from
Cassandra Ramirez in the 61st and 62nd minutes, but each time her cross was knocked away by the defense.
Then in the 67th minute, a free kick for WT saw Rodriguez Fortea take the attempt from the top of the box and fire in a nice goal shooting from the left-18 and into the top, right corner.
In the final 12 minutes of the match, UTPB Head Coach
Garrett Kull opted to deploy a new attacking strategy, but it did not bear fruit to any shot attempts for the Falcons, who were outshot 12-0 in the second half.
The final actions by the Falcons in the match were a free kick of Reagan in the 83rd minute and a corner kick by Ramirez in the 84th minute.
Sims finished with a match-high five shot attempts for the Lady Buffs, but it was Rodriguez Fortea who stole the show with her first two goals of the season.
It was the fourth match in a row for WT with one player scoring at least two goals. It started when Sims recorded back-to-back hat tricks in home wins against Angelo State University (Oct. 3) and No. 8 Midwestern State University (Oct. 7). Sims was named the LSC Offensive Player of the Week during each of the last two weeks, and two weeks ago was named the D2CIDA National Player of the Week. Then most recently at The University of Texas at Tyler (Oct. 10), it was a brace by Avery Putnam that helped pace the Lady Buffs to a 2-1 win over the Patriots.
UTPB falls to 4-10-0 overall and 1-10-0 in the LSC. WT (6-5-3, 5-3-2), meanwhile, is now riding a five-match winning streak in which it has scored multiple goals in each match. The Lady Buffs came into the week in eighth place in the conference standings.
Heading into its final road trip of the season, UTPB will play at Oklahoma Christian University starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 17.
