BIRMINGHAM –Kamilah Mustafa converted a penalty kick in the 66th minute to lead UAB (7-3-1, 2-1-0 C-USA) to a 2-1 victory over UTSA (2-6-1, 0-4-0 C-USA) on Sunday afternoon at BBVA Field.
The Roadrunners had the first opportunity to score in the 10th minute, but Alyssa Blankenship could not get a foot on a cross that went through the box.
It was the Blazers that would find the back of the net in the 17th minute. Sarah Buse’s free kick was perfectly placed on Lexxe Lipsey’s right foot. Lipsey tapped the ball past Roadrunners’ keeper Jil Schneider in the lower right-hand corner to put UAB ahead 1-0.
Just before halftime, UTSA’s Lexi Bolton’s corner kick was punched out by UAB keeper Anika Toth. The loose ball found Kiran Singh, whose bicycle kick was headed in by Deja Sandoval for the equalizer in the 44th minute.
In the 66th minute the Roadrunnners’ Alex Granville was called for a handball in the box on Lipsey’s shot, resulting in a penalty kick. Mustafa was called upon to take the PK. Schneider dove left and Mustafa went right for the score.
Two minutes later, Singh almost made the match level, but her shot ricocheted off the woodwork. The Roadrunners had another scoring opportunity in the 83rd minute, but Abby Kassal’s header was turned away by Toth.
“I was really proud of our team’s ability to battle today against a very tough opponent,” said head coach Erica Demers. “We had a great turnaround week coming off the loss at UTEP and the conversation to our players all week was to give maximum effort in everything they did and we felt like we got that from them today.”
UTSA outshot UAB 12-9 and each team had six corner kicks.
Toth had three saves in recording her fifth win of the season.
“No game in conference is going to be easy. Each game is a battle,” added Demers.
UAB will travel to Denton, Texas to face North Texas on March 26. The Mean Green (5-2-0, 2-1-0 C-USA) dropped a 2-1 decision to Southern Miss this afternoon.
The next and final home game is April 2 versus Rice. The regular season concludes at Louisiana Tech on April 9.
Women’s soccer season tickets are on sale by purchasing the 2020-21 Gold Card for $65 here. The Gold Card is an exclusive offer that grants you admission into all UAB men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball events for the current academic year. Contact the UAB Ticket Office at (205) 975-UAB1 for more details.
Individual game tickets are available for purchase here.
For more information on the UAB women’s soccer team, follow @UAB_WSoc on Twitter and Instagram.
