EL PASO, Texas – Fresh off a 4-0 dismantling of Texas Southern on Aug. 17, the UTEP soccer team (1-1) will take the show on the road by locking up with UCR (0-2) at 7:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. MT Thursday before wrapping up the trip at Cal State Fullerton (0-0-1) at 5 p.m. PT/6 p.m. MT Sunday.
 
The match against the Highlanders will not be streamed, but live stats will be available. ESPN+ and live stats will provide coverage for Sunday's affair.
 
Get To Know UCR
UCR is 0-2 on the season, with both of those setbacks coming on the road. The Highlanders opened the year by falling, 2-0, at Idaho on Aug. 14 before coming up shy by the same score at Utah Tech on Aug. 17. The matchup against the Miners is one of just two at home in nonconference action before the Highlanders, who were voted 11th in the Big West Preseason Poll, start league play. Talisa Perez and Trinity Hale split the time in net last week, with each conceding a pair of goals. Hale accounted for three of the team's four saves. UCR is under the direction of first-year head coach Mike Dibbini, who built the Kansas State soccer program from the ground up. He directed the Wildcats from their inception in 2016 through last year, leading them to appearance at the 2022 Big 12 Championships. The Highlanders were one of the best in the country last year at earning corner kicks (6.45-first Big West/23rd nationally). UCR lost its two top goal scorers from a year ago. Sanaa Guyness, who was tied for third on the team in the category last year, is topping the team in both shots (two) and shots on goal (two) in 2025.
 
Series History With UCR
UTEP is 1-2 all-time against UCR, including being edged out, 1-0, at home on Aug. 25, 2024, during the most-recent matchup last year. The Miners had a slight advantage in total shots (10-9) while also dominating in terms of corner kicks (6-2) but couldn't come away with the triumph.
 
Get To Know Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton had its season opener rained out at FGCU on Aug. 14. It then played to a scoreless draw vs. ACC foe (RV) Cal on Aug. 17. The Titans will take aim at their first win of the season when they play at Portland on Thursday before returning to host UTEP on Sunday. Fullerton, which finished 6-9-4 (4-3-3 Big West) a year ago, was predicted to take fifth in the conference this season. Isabella Cruz and Kaylin Raibon were both tabbed to the Preseason All-Big West Team. Cruz was a first-team honoree last year after registering 12 points (four goals, four assists). She is the returning squad leader for each of those categories. Raibon was the lone field player on the team to start every match in 2024. She helped anchor the defense while also adding a pair of goals (tied third on team). GK Isaac Ranson, who registered five saves to earn the shutout against the Golden Bears, was named the Big West Defensive Player of the Week as result. It marked the seventh weekly honor during her career with the Titans, including her sixth defensive player of the week.
 
Series History With Cal State Fullerton
Sunday's matchup will be just the second ever between the squads. UTEP was upended, 8-1, by the Titans on the road on Sept. 8, 1996, during the program's inaugural season.
 
Taking Our Talents To Cali
The Miners will be playing a pair of road contests in the "Golden State" in the same week for the first time since 2007. That year, the Orange and Blue battled at Fresno State (L, 3-2, 9/28/07) before being held off at Sacramento State (L, 1-0, 9/30/07). UTEP competed twice in the same week in California in 2021, but only one of those tilts (L, 3-2, at UC Davis, 8/29/21) was a road contest. The other was a neutral-site game in which the Miners were clipped by Nevada, 2-1 (8/26/21).  
 
Getting Out Of The Gates Fast
If the Miners can come away with a victory at UCR on Thursday, it would mark the first 2-1 start to the season since 2018. UTEP is in the position to do so after bouncing back from a narrow 1-0 setback in the season opener to ACU on Aug. 14 with the 4-0 dismantling of Texas Southern on Aug. 17.
 
Chance At Two In A Row
When the Miners lock up with UCR on Thursday, they can secure a second straight win. That last occurred in 2022 when UTEP bounced Wyoming on the road (W, 3-1, 9/4/22) and cruised past UIW at home (W, 2-0, 9/8/22). It would also allow the Orange and Blue to move to 4-2-1 dating to the end of last season.
 
Offensive Outburst Vs. Texas Southern
UTEP's offense was clicking on all cylinders in the 4-0 win against Texas Southern on Aug. 17. The four goals were the most in a match in seven years (W, 4-1, vs NM State, 9/23/18). Ana Quintero (20', 61') registered the first brace of her career, while Eve Barry (43') and freshman Yesenia Cisneros (67') also found the back of the net. Cisneros was also credited with an assist on the goal by Barry.
 
Sharing Is Caring
UTEP recorded four assists in the win vs. Texas Southern on Aug. 17. Yesenia Cisneros, freshman Ava Grosso, sophomore Ashlee Mora and redshirt-senior Hayden McMillan all posted helpers. It marked the most assists by UTEP in a single match since also tallying four in a 3-1 triumph at Wyoming three years ago (9/4/22).  
 
Complimentary Soccer
The Miners had things going at both ends of the pitch in the 4-0 dismantling of Texas Southern on Aug. 17. UTEP outshot the Tigers, 23-9, including 9-3 in shots on target, while also holding the cushion for corner kicks (7-3). The end result was the largest margin of victory in a shutout against a DI opponent dating to the 2016 campaign (W, 5-0 vs. Southern Miss, 10/28/16).
 
A Clean Sheet For The Freshman
Savanah Finley turned away all three shots on goal in the 4-0 victory against Texas Southern on Aug. 17. The effort made her the first Miner freshman GK to produce a clean sheet since Luisa Palmen turned away 10 shots to blank UTSA (9/24/21) in a 1-0 victory four years ago.
 
Youth Served In The Net
True freshman GK Savanah Finley started both matches and played all 180 minutes of action in the opening week of the season. The Rockwall, Texas, native conceded only one goal-on a breakaway vs. ACU on Aug. 14- while compiling seven total saves. She also became the first UTEP freshman netminder to earn the starting nod in the campaign lid lifter since Emily Parrott did so in 2019. Parrott was credited with four stops to help the Orange and Blue tie Wyoming, 2-2 (8/22/19) in that contest. Parrott finished the year having started 19 of 20 matches en route to a 10-7-3 mark with seven shutouts.
 
That's A Lot Of Shots
UTEP piled up 23 shots vs. Texas Southern, its second-highest total under head coach Gibbs Keeton. The effort trailed only a 24-shot tilt at Middle Tennessee last year (9/26/24). The nine shots on goal set the standard for the Keeton era while checking in as the most by a Miner squad since the Covid-impacted 2020 season. That campaign, which was contested in the spring, UTEP also peppered NM State with nine shots on target in a 3-1 triumph (2/11/21).
 
Honor Thy Captains
The Miners appointed co-captains for the 2025 season, with defenders Kaila Hudson and Ashlyn Neireiter sharing the honors.
 
Taking Notice Of Ashlyn
Ashlyn Neireiter was voted to the Preseason All-Conference USA Team, the league office revealed on Aug. 7. The junior was tabbed as one of four defenders on the 11-player squad, making her the first Miner to be so distinguished since forward Vic Bohdan was selected in 2018. She was the lone UTEP player to start every match last season while also topping the squad in in minutes played (1518). That was nearly 400 more minutes earned than the next individual on the team.
 
Double Trouble
UTEP has two sets of twins on the 2025 roster (freshmen Damaris Cisneros and Yesenia Cisneros and seniors Kaila Hudson and Kialie Hudson), in addition to three other individuals with twin sisters (junior Eve Barry, freshman Ava Grosso and sophomore Sarina Villa Cuellar).
 
30th Season Of UTEP Soccer
The 2025 campaign marks the 30th season in program history. The Miners boast an all-time record of 283-231-49, including 176-78-22 at University Field (elevation of 4,200 feet).
 
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