Saturday, June 2

Houston Aces vs. ASA El Paso

7:00 PM CDT – Houston Sports Park (Houston, TX)

The first ever match in the UWS Southwest Conference will feature a very familiar team to the league as the Houston Aces, a charter member of UWS, will host ASA El Paso at the Houston Sports Park. Houston participated in the West in each of the last two seasons and nearly won the Conference title in 2016, only to yield a late equalizing goal to the Colorado Pride in their final game of that season, allowing Santa Clarita to win the West. The Aces have expanded their relationship this season with the National Women’s Soccer League Houston Dash, where several players of the Dash’s players will feature for the Aces as needed, adding to an already strong side, which includes a few international products. UWS West Conference First Team member and Colombian International Tatiana Ariza returns to the side after a six-goal campaign in 2017 as well as midfielder Rachel Owens, who was also named to the West First Team last year.

ASA El Paso makes the long trip across the state of Texas to play a pair of matches at the Houston Sports Park and will look to get off to a good start on their debut weekend. The club is based within the Advanced Soccer Academy, one of the most successful soccer academies in El Paso, and entered a team into UWS to provide a platform for Elite Players within and around their community. On the field, Head Coach David Lopez recruited heavily towards the many quality college soccer programs in Texas, with the team having a few players representing University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Texas A&M International, University of the Southwest and Western Texas College.

Sunday, June 3

HAR FC vs. ASA El Paso

4:00 PM CDT – Houston Sports Park (Houston, TX)

Less than 24 hours after taking on the Houston Aces, ASA El Paso will be back on the field to take on HAR FC, which is Houston’s collegiate affiliate. HAR FC will be led by a very talented striker in Stephanie Garcia, who is a rising Senior at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been the team’s go-to scorer for the last couple of seasons as the Houston native led the team in goals with six back in 2016, including a hat-trick against Middle Tennessee State as well as netting three goals and three assists this past season. HAR FC will be looking to her experience early on to be the catalyst to get the team started off on the right foot.

FC Austin Elite vs. North Texas Image

6:00 PM CDT – Elite Field (Round Rock, TX)

In the lone Southwest game to take place outside of Houston this week brings us to Round Rock, where FC Austin Elite will get their season underway as they host North Texas Image. FC Austin Elite has already established strong roots within their community as while this is their first season in UWS, it will be their fourth competitive season as a whole. The organization hired Jamie Meshew to take the reigns for this campaign, who has experience coaching at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels, including most recently working at St. Edward’s University. Their roster boasts four-time Division III All-American midfielder Emily Jorgens, who posted one of the best careers in Trinity (TX) University program history, scoring 59 goals and 88 assists for 206 career points in 93 appearances. Abilene Christian’s Christina Arteaga and Dallas Baptist’s Jayme Woodfill will flank Jorgens in the attack this season in what could be a very exciting group to watch.

The North Texas Image is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is one the biggest hotbeds in all of United States soccer. The Image will feature a very locally based team for the 2018 campaign, led by Team owner and Head Coach Joe Soliz, who brings over 30 years of coaching experience to the touchlines. His roster includes experienced players like Melinda Pina, who was one of the best ever strikers in University of North Texas program history, and Mackenzie Scovill, who scored over 20 goals in a four-year career at Southern Methodist, along with a few rising talents, like incoming McNeese State University Freshman Natalya Ramirez, who was a part of the FC Dallas Academy for the last few years.