Five Games In: UTRGV Women’s Soccer Is Starting to Find Its Identity

By Diamond DITV | Fan Perspective

Five games into the season, UTRGV women’s soccer is 3-2.

But the record doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Vaqueros opened the season with back-to-back losses and were outscored 6-1. Since then?

Three straight wins. Three straight shutouts. A 6-0 scoring advantage.

And maybe most importantly, this team looks different.

We were there for the season opener against Texas Southern. UTRGV had plenty of the ball and created opportunities, outshooting TSU 9-8 with a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal.

The problem was what happened with those opportunities.

Too many possessions ended with a missed connection, a turnover or without UTRGV creating the dangerous chance it needed. Texas Southern capitalized. UTRGV didn’t, and the result was a frustrating 2-0 loss.

Then came a 4-1 loss at Texas State, where the Vaqueros were outshot 22-3.

UTRGV was 0-2. It had allowed six goals.

And then something changed.

The Vaqueros Are Attacking

The biggest difference we’ve noticed since those first two matches is UTRGV’s willingness to attack.

The breakthrough came against Prairie View A&M.

UTRGV fired 15 shots, put nine on goal and rolled to a 4-0 victory. Isabella Burtini scored twice and added an assist, Sienna Gillespie scored her first NCAA Division I goal, and Erika Parker scored the first goal of her career on a strike from roughly 30 yards out.

That last one caught our attention.

Watching highlights from UTRGV’s wins, we started noticing the Vaqueros being more willing to shoot from distance instead of always trying to manufacture the perfect opportunity inside the box.

Then we saw the same mentality Sunday against Texas A&M International.

The box score can’t tell us where every attempt came from, so we’re not going to call this a complete tactical transformation. But from what we’ve seen, the mentality looks different.

UTRGV looks more willing to take its shot.

The numbers support the larger trend.

UTRGV attempted just 12 shots over its first two matches. The Vaqueros have attempted 31 during their three-game winning streak.

There’s still another step to take. Only two of UTRGV’s 11 attempts against TAMIU were on goal.

Keep the aggression. Now turn more of those attempts into dangerous chances.

The Defense Has Flipped the Season

The offensive change is noticeable.

The defensive turnaround is undeniable.

UTRGV allowed six goals in its first two matches.

It hasn’t allowed another one.

And the interesting part is that the Vaqueros have earned their three consecutive clean sheets in three completely different ways.

Prairie View was the complete performance: a 4-0 win in which UTRGV finally broke through offensively while keeping the other end clean.

Tarleton required survival.

The Texans outshot UTRGV 19-5 and put eight shots on goal. Mariana Amezcua stopped every one of them, and Libby Pole eventually scored off an Isabella Burtini assist to steal a 1-0 road win.

Then came TAMIU.

This time, UTRGV didn’t need Amezcua — or Veronica Pacione, who played the second half — to make a single save. TAMIU attempted five shots and put none on goal.

Amy Romero’s first goal as a Vaquero, assisted by Sienna Church, did the rest.

Three games. Three wins. Three clean sheets.

One was comfortable. One required a career performance in goal. One required the defense to protect a one-goal lead without allowing a shot on target.

Winning in different ways matters.

Isabella Burtini Is Becoming the Centerpiece

Five matches in, one player has clearly separated herself offensively.

Isabella Burtini.

Three goals. Two assists. Five direct goal contributions on UTRGV’s seven goals.

She scored UTRGV’s lone goal during the 0-2 start against Texas State. Then came two goals and an assist against Prairie View before she set up Pole’s winner at Tarleton.

UTRGV is starting to get contributions from several different players.

Burtini has been the constant.

Diamond DITV Players to Watch

Isabella Burtini — Forward

She’s the obvious one.

Three goals and two assists through five matches make Burtini UTRGV’s most productive attacking player so far. When the Vaqueros create something dangerous, there’s a good chance No. 9 is involved.

Mariana Amezcua — Goalkeeper

UTRGV has used both Amezcua and Veronica Pacione, so we’re not calling this a settled goalkeeper situation.

But eight saves in a 1-0 road win at Tarleton will get our attention.

The Vaqueros don’t leave Stephenville with a victory without Amezcua’s performance.

Amy Romero — Forward

Romero might be the most intriguing name on this list.

She assisted Sienna Gillespie against Prairie View and scored the winner against TAMIU. Against the Dustdevils, Romero played only 32 minutes yet accounted for both UTRGV shots on goal.

Keep an eye on her role as the season progresses.

Sienna Church — Defender

Not every player to watch needs to lead the scoring column.

Church went the full 90 minutes against TAMIU and delivered the assist on Romero’s winner. With UTRGV now sitting on three consecutive shutouts, someone from that defensive group deserves our attention.

Church is a good place to start.

And Don’t Forget Libby Pole

Pole already owns one of UTRGV’s biggest moments of the season.

Her goal at Tarleton turned a match in which UTRGV was outshot 19-5 into a 1-0 Vaqueros victory.

With scoring starting to come from different places, Pole gives Stewart another option to watch going forward.

So, What Have We Learned?

UTRGV isn’t a finished product.

Sunday was a perfect example.

Eleven shots sounds good. Two shots on goal doesn’t.

Tarleton was another reminder. UTRGV won, but it also allowed 19 shots and needed eight saves from Amezcua.

There is plenty to clean up.

But five matches is enough to start seeing an identity.

This team looks more confident going forward than the one we watched on opening night. The Vaqueros are taking chances earlier, they’re getting goals from different players and they’ve become dramatically harder to score against.

Maybe most importantly, they responded.

An 0-2 start could have become 0-3. Then 1-4. Suddenly you’re spending September trying to rescue a season.

Instead, UTRGV answered with three straight wins.

Diamond DITV956 Final Word

Five games don’t define a season.

But the response to those five games can tell you something about a team.

UTRGV got punched early.

The Vaqueros lost their first two matches, allowed six goals and had plenty of reasons for a first season under Nataki Stewart to begin heading in the wrong direction.

They answered.

Three wins.

Three shutouts.

Six goals scored.

Zero allowed.

Now UTRGV is 3-2, riding its longest winning streak since 2024 and above .500 for the first time in the Stewart era.

There are bigger tests coming. We still want to see more shots turn into quality chances. We want to see how this defense responds when the competition gets tougher.

And we want to see whether this newfound attacking confidence sticks.

But after five games, we know considerably more about this team than we did on opening night.

The Vaqueros aren’t just winning.

They’re starting to show us who they might be.