STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Texan Nation never disappoints, and Thursday's home crowd was at near-capacity for its first look at a revamped 2026 Tarleton State Soccer squad. The Texans answered with a draw against the Mountain West Conference's UTEP, their second draw in program history against a Group of Six team.
The Texans (0-0-2) have opened the year with back-to-back draws, scoring in the 58th minute to even the score 1-1, the eventual final. The Miners (2-0-1) allowed their first goal of the season, entering the contest at the Tarleton State Soccer Complex in Stephenville with a 7-0 goal advantage through two wins.
This was Tarleton State's second draw against an FBS institution, and first since a 1-1 draw in the home opener in 2023 against ULM. Tarleton State and UTEP made it consecutive years facing each other, with the Miners winning 1-0 in El Paso, Texas, last season.
There were 443 fans in Tarleton State's 500-person capacity complex, and they enjoyed a Back 2 School Bash before the match with free food, tailgate games and a DJ. The fans were rockin' most of the night, buoyed by the Texans' three best scoring chances in the first half, a
Zahra Friess open-area run in the 12th minute, an
Adelaide Wyrzynski center-cut shot in the 26th minute, and a
Sam Cortez rocket off of the crossbar in the 33rd minute. The Miners outshot the Texans 9-6, but had just one on goal compared to Tarleton State's two.
In the second half, the Miners were relentless to start, peppering in eight shots within 11 minutes, and before the Texans' got one off. Zeta McDannels scored in the 48th minute, with an assist to Shawna Larson, off of a free kick scrum in the box to give the Miners a 1-0 lead. Shortly after UTEP's 11th shot of the half, Friess got deep in the UTEP zone and was tripped by Macey Williams in the box, giving the Texans a penalty kick chance. Wyrzynski handled it with ease, tying the game in the 58th minute with a perfectly placed shot in the top left corner. The rest of the half was fairly even with neither team gaining a great scoring chance.
Overall, UTEP outshot Tarleton State 22-12, but 18 of those were off target, as the Texans had five shots on goal to the Miners' four. UTEP had eight corner kicks to Tarleton State's four, but committed over double the amount of fouls, 14-6, 10 in the second half alone. Each team was shown a yellow card, Tarleton State's Cortez in the 39th minute for unsporting behavior, and the same for UTEP's Gianna Wilbur in the 53rd minute.
Each goalkeeper played the entire match, as Tarleton State's
Rylie Bloomfield earned three saves with the goal allowed, and UTEP's Savanah Finley four saves with her goal allowed.
Peyton Bryant and
Victoria Lucksinger also played all 90 minutes for the Texans.
Grace Berry had a team-high three shots (one on goal), and Wyrzynski had a team-high two shots on goal. Wyrzynski scored her fifth career goal in her third season with the Purple and White, her quickest goal to start a season (scored in her fourth match last year).
Tarleton State will hit the road this weekend before a pair of home matches next week. On Sunday, the Texans will play at Houston against the Big 12 Conference's Cougars at 1 p.m. at the Carl Lewis International Complex. The match will be
broadcast on ESPN+, and
tickets are available.
