Saturday, June 9

North Texas Image vs. Houston Aces

6:00 PM CDT – Cedar Valley College (Lancaster, TX)

North Texas Image kick off a pair of home games on the weekend as they welcome in the Houston Aces on Saturday before taking on HAR FC on Sunday. Joe Soliz’s side will look to start their home slate off to a good start as they will want to put behind last Sunday’s 2-0 loss to FC Austin Elite quickly behind them. The one part that Soliz will be happy about from last week’s game was the amount of chances generated on goal, as they forced FCA’s Paige Wallace into making nine saves to preserve the clean sheet. But with the quality of striking ability that his team possesses, they will hope to finish off a few of those chances this week.

The Houston Aces have experienced the full spectrum of highs and lows in three years of opening match action in UWS. In 2016, they kicked off the West Conference season by getting thumped 10-1 to Santa Clarita at home. In 2017, they suffered a nail-baiting 2-1 loss to Calgary at home but in 2018, they powered nine goals past ASA El Paso to get this campaign off to a rousing start. They were backed by a second half hat trick from 2017 UWS West Conference First Team member Rachel Owens, along with getting a pair of goals from each Julie Gavorski and Melanie Barnes. And while posting a score like that is a great statement to make, it will be interesting to see how much of that momentum carries over to this weeks’ action against a hungry team looking for their first ever UWS result.

ASA El Paso vs. FC Austin Elite

6:00 PM MDT – Americas H.S. (El Paso, TX)

After playing their first two matches of the season last week at the Houston Sports Park, ASA El Paso make their home debut as they welcome in FC Austin Elite. After giving up nine goal last Saturday to the Houston Aces, you have to give David Lopez’s side a lot of credit in removing that game from the memory banks and putting in a strong effort the day after against HAR FC. They did lose that second match 3-2 but it was a much more competitive contest from start to finish and ASA had the opportunity to level things in the last few minutes. It was a busy weekend for Megan Smith in goal but she did her job in keeping her team in that match, now we will see if ASA can find that back of the net a few times on their home field.

FC Austin Elite only needed four minutes to get themselves on the scoreboard in their UWS debut last weekend as Kimberlin Palacios put her side ahead early and got a second goal inside the final quarter hour from Christina Arteaga, who also posted an assist earlier in the match. Paige Wallace put in a very strong performance in goal last week against North Texas as she was kept busy all evening, as the Trinity University product came up with nine saves to preserve the shut out. Jamie Meshew has put together a very strong side for their first year of UWS play and if her side can pick up a result in West Texas, they will have some good momentum heading into next weeks’ key match at Houston.

Sunday, June 10

North Texas Image vs. HAR FC

6:00 PM CDT – Old Panther Stadium (Duncanville, TX)

North Texas will have a quick turnaround after their match against the Aces as they will host HAR FC on Sunday evening. HAR FC put in a very solid performance in their first UWS match as they got ahead early by way of a 20th minute strike from Sabrina Munguia, and despite giving up a goal before halftime, they came out of the locker room firing with a quick 46th minute goal from Stephanie Garcia before putting the match out of reach with Munguia’s second strike in the 67th minute. There were some nervous moments towards the end of the matches as HAR FC put one in the back of their own net with five minutes remaining in regulation. But goalkeeper Madison Raines held down the fort late on to give her side three points. With this match being the first of a home and home series with North Texas over the next two weeks, HAR will look to set the tone early if they want to keep pace with the Aces and FC Austin Elite.

About United Women's Soccer:

UWS is a national women’s soccer league sanctioned by U.S. Soccer. UWS is a professionally operated league created for teams that meet high minimum standards. The season runs from May until the end of July, culminating in a National Championship match. The UWS player pool is comprised of college players, aspiring & former professionals and international stars. You can follow UWS on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Media can contact the UWS Communications office by e-mail at UWSPress@gmail.com. You can visit the league’s official website at UWSSoccer.com. Interested team applicants can contact League Commissioner Joe Ferrara, Jr. by e-mail at Joe@UWSSoccer.com.