DALLAS, Texas (October 3, 2026) – The UT Permian Basin women's soccer team was unable to slow down a high-powered offense for No. 2 Dallas Baptist University, falling 4-0 to the Patriots on Saturday on the campus of Dallas College Mountain View.
It was a tough matchup for UTPB playing against arguably the top offensive team in the country as DBU entered the contest leading NCAA Division II with 38 goals scored in just 10 matches.
Despite the test presented by the DBU offense, it can be hard to break down a defense playing as deep as UTPB with 10 players in the box, throw in the challenge of playing on turf with wet conditions. However, that did not stop DBU senior forward Ashley Washburn from delivering a perfectly-placed cross in from the right baseline to the head of forward McKenna Vela in the box for the header goal into the top, right corner less than eight minutes in.
Just over five minutes later, Skyler Belanger sent one on the ground from the left side through the UTPB defense to Vela, who slid and re-directed it for her second goal in the first 13 minutes of the match.
Vela was picked as the 2026 Lone Star Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after earning First-Team All-LSC and First-Team All-South Central Region honors in 2025. She led the conference and ranked among the top-25 players nationally in goals (14), points (38) and shot accuracy (.627).
At the half, DBU led 18-0 on total shots, 8-0 on shots on goal, 7-0 on corner kicks, and 3-0 on the scoreboard.
Following a corner kick by Belanger in the second half, Washburn, the reigning LSC Offensive Player of the Week and the nation's No. 2 leader in points per game (2.70) coming into the match, scored DBU's second header goal of the match to make it 4-0 in the 55th minute.
With three points against UTPB, Washburn is back in the national lead for points (30).
Vela finished with two goals on seven shots and four shots on goal to lead DBU while Washburn totaled both a goal and an assist and had five shots and two shots on goal.
UTPB's only two shot attempts of the day both came in the 88th minute, first on a deep attempt by
Kendal Bartakian and then on a long sliding attempt by
Cassandra Ramirez, but both shots were easily saved by DBU backup goalkeeper Mallory Bankhead.
DBU launched 30 shots on Saturday, the squad's second-most in a match this season.
UTPB falls to 4-7-0 overall and 1-7-0 in the LSC while DBU improves to 11-0-0 and 8-0-0. In 2025, the Patriots posted a 20-2 overall record with a 12-1 mark in league play to claim the LSC Regular Season Championship before also taking the LSC Tournament Championship. Due in part to a program-record 16-match winning streak, DBU hosted the NCAA South Central Regional en route to the school's third appearance in the Elite 8 (NCAA Quarterfinals).
Coming into the match, DBU's high-powered offense led the nation in assists (35) and ranked third nationally in points per game (11.10), scoring offense (3.80), and shots per game (23.10).
UTPB Head Coach
Garrett Kull said after the match, "Games like these are great tests of our program, and while obviously the score line is not something we would celebrate, I was very proud of how our team handled the entire game. They played hard for 90 minutes with everybody contributing. They supported and pushed each other, so when you talk about our culture, that becomes key."
UTPB will remain on the road to start week five of LSC action with another nationally-ranked matchup at No. 19 Texas Woman's University starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7, from Denton, Texas.
