Women's Soccer looks to build off season-opening win at Wayland Baptist on Saturday
The UHV women's soccer team hopes to keep its momentum rolling this week after opening the season with a win.
The Jaguars head to Plainview in the Texas Panhandle to square off with Sooner Athletic Conference foe Wayland Baptist at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7.
UHV (1-0) is coming off a 1-0 road win over Nelson University in which Arantza Alva's second career goal moved the Jaguars' season-opening unbeaten streak to five matches. The team's scheduled match with Texas Wesleyan was deemed a no-contest due to thunderstorms.
"I think the girls played well," said head coach Adrian Rigby, "Defensively, we had a good game and we're still implementing some of our system. We had a good training session when we got back."
Alva, a sophomore from McAllen, earned Red River Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors for her 37th-minute goal against the Lions. She and senior goalkeeper Hayli Nichols completed UHV's first sweep of the RRAC weekly awards since November 2018 with Nichols taking home the defensive honors after a pair of saves to earn the clean sheet against Nelson
"We're proud of both for receiving the awards," Rigby said. "Hayli was a staple in the back. She communicated well and her leadership helped organize the team. Arantza scored a big goal for us in terms of winning the game. So, hopefully that will propel her to bigger minutes and a bigger role for us going forward."
This will be the fourth meeting all-time between the Pioneers (1-1) and the Jaguars. Wayland Baptist won 2-1 in double-overtime in the teams' last meeting on Sept. 11, 2021.
Wayland Baptist beat Jarvis Christian 2-1 in its season opener on Aug. 31, but fell 7-1 against University of the Southwest on Wednesday.
"I think it's always a positive thing when you get to go on the road early, especially longer ones," Rigby said. "And we get to play a good opponent. Shiloh (Posey) does a real good job up there and we're expecting a good game."
