CANYON, TEXAS – West Texas A&M Women's Soccer is set to open their 2026 season at The Pitch against a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) opponents. On Thursday, August 27, the Lady Buffs will host Western Colorado before taking on New Mexico Highlands on Saturday, August 29. Thursday's will be played at 3:00p.m. while Saturday's game will kickoff at 3:30 p.m.
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LSC Preseason Poll
Coming into this season, West Texas A&M was projected to finish 10th in the Lone Star Conference (LSC) Preseason Poll. 2025 saw the Lady Buffs tally a 7-9-2 record with a 4-9-1 mark in the LSC in the first year of Head Coach
Turk Ozturk's tenure. WT would finish 10th in the conference standings and miss out on the LSC Tournament.
2026 LSC Preseason Poll
1 DBU (662 points, 38 first place votes)
2 Midwestern State (583 points, two first place votes)
3 Texas Woman's (581 points, three first place votes)
4 UT Dallas (556 points, one first place vote)
5 UT Tyler (459 points)
6 St. Mary's (443 points, one first place vote)
7 Angelo State (434 points)
8 St. Edward's (338 points)
9 Lubbock Christian (336 points)
10 West Texas A&M (266 points)
11 Oklahoma Christian (240 points)
12 Texas A&M International (194 points)
13 UT Permian Basin (148 points)
14 Sul Ross State (97 points)
15 Eastern New Mexico (63 points)
Junior forward
Sienna Hurrell was named the Offensive Player to Watch for the Lady Buffs. Hurrell enters her first season at WT after transferring from Louisiana. In her two seasons with the Ragin Cajuns, Hurrell played in 22 games with 10 starts in 1010 total minutes. The Kingston Upon Thames, England native totaled four points from a goal and two assists.
Sophomore defender
Ryann Davis was tabbed as the Defensive Player to Watch for West Texas A&M. In a strong freshman campaign, Davis started in all 18 games a season for the Lady Buffs while leading the team in minutes with 1474 at the backline. She played all 90 minutes in 12 games in 2025 and recorded one point from an assist.
Senior
Franciezca Blancaflor was named the Goalkeeper to Watch for WT. Blancaflor started all 18 games between the pipes for West Texas A&M in her inaugural season and logged 1401 minutes. She notched 70 saves on a 73.7 save percentage on the year while recording a 1.61 goals allowed average and two shutout victories. The Salado, Texas native currently sits in 10th place in career saves at WT and will continue to climb the leaderboard.
Captaining the Lady Buffs in 2026 will be senior
Bailey Malone and junior
Riley Sims. Malone enters her final season with WT after appearing in 52 games with 29 starts in the prior three years. Last season, Malone logged 662 minutes with two points from a pair of assists in the midfield. Sims begins her first season with West Texas A&M after spending the two prior seasons at Louisiana. Sims made 12 appearances with the Ragin Cajuns in her tenure while playing 250 minutes.
Other notable returners from 2025 will be seniors
Michelle Velasco,
Avery Putnam,
Mollie Ferro, and
Sarah Hernandez Lopez along with juniors
Alicia Cohen and
Jade Martinez. Velasco played 882 minutes with 14 starts in the midfield last season. She tallied three assists and five shots on goal. Putnam played in only two games last year but started in all 18 games in 2024 where she led the team in points (15) and goals (seven). She earned LSC All-Freshman honors in 2023. Ferro compiled 1250 minutes on defense last season with 15 starts and added one assist. Hernandez Lopez finished fifth in points last season for the Lady Buffs with five coming from two goals and an assist.
For the juniors, Cohen enters her second season with WT after making 14 starts and logging 956 minutes. She led the team in shots (37) and shots on goal (21) while tallying seven points from three goals and an assist. Martinez made nine starts with 697 minutes of action in the midfield. She notched four points from two goals.
2026 will see a lot of new faces for West Texas A&M with a total of 18 new players (nine transfers and nine freshman). The nine transfers include Hurrell, Sims, junior
Bailee Ramirez (McNeese State), graduate student
Blanca Negrete (Tennessee-Martin), junior Charo Rodriguez-Fortea (Navarro College), junior
Rozlyn Rumsey (Navarro College), junior
Naya Megnin (Miami Dade College), junior
Sara Soto (Cumberlands), and sophomore
Samantha Solorzano (San Francisco State).
The offseason saw WT bring in a strong class of nine freshman including
Sofia Rogers,
TaiLee Long,
Izzy Blancaflor,
Payten Novak,
Kennedy Casello,
Makenah Salas,
Mary Valdez,
Braely Martinez, and
Karime Gallardo.
Preseason Recap
West Texas A&M wrapped up preseason play last week after taking on Otero. The Lady Buffs played two other preseason games against Garden City Community College and U18 Rush along with an intrasquad scrimmage.
Hear from Head Coach Turk Ozturk as he recaps the Lady Buffs preseason
Salado Standout
Entering 2026, senior goalkeeper
Franciezca Blancaflor ranks inside the top 10 in career saves (tenth- 70) and goalkeeper wins (ninth- seven) following her inaugural season with the Lady Buffs last year. Blancaflor is six saves away from passing Sarah Anderson (2004-05) for ninth place and five wins from moving past Anderson and Brigid Maruszak (2002) for seventh place. The Salado, Texas native is also two shutouts away from tying McKynzie Zick (2014-15) for tenth in career shutouts with five.
Season Opener
Thursday's season opener will mark the beginning of the 31st season of Lady Buff Soccer. West Texas A&M holds a record of 20-7-3 in season openers with an 8-4-0 record at The Pitch. WT has won their past two season openers and are 4-0-1 over the last five seasons. The Lady Buffs are 1-0-0 all-time against Western Colorado in season openers with the win coming in 2024 (4-2).
Series History
Thursday's season opener against Western Colorado will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs with West Texas A&M holding a 2-1-0 record against the Mountaineers. The Lady Buffs have won two straight matches in the series including their meeting last year.
Late Goal Lifts the Lady Buffs Past Western Colorado, 3-2- September 10, 2025
The first period featured a critical save by
Franciezca Blancaflor, who stopped a penalty kick from Adah Minikel-Lacocque in the fourth minute, setting the tone early for the Buffs. The breakthrough came in the 22nd minute when
Jezmin Castellanos Reyes converted a penalty kick to give the visiting team a 1-0 advantage. Despite several attempts from Western Colorado, Blancaflor's goalkeeping ensured that the Lady Buffs maintained their lead heading into the break.
The second period began with WT maintaining pressure, resulting in a crucial goal by
Alair Posard in the 54th minute, extending their lead to 2-0. However, Western Colorado fought back, equalizing with goals in the 67th and 75th minutes. In a tense finish,
Aaliyah McPeak scored the decisive goal in the 87th minute, assisted by
Michelle Velasco on a corner kick, securing a 3-2 victory.
Blancaflor recorded nine saves, contributing significantly to the Lady Buffs' defensive efforts. Posard added a goal, with her single shot finding the back of the net. Velasco provided an assist, helping to set up one of the team's scoring opportunities. McPeak scored the game-winning goal, converting one of her two shots.
Saturday's game against New Mexico Highlands will be the 21st matchup in the series between the two programs. West Texas A&M has a current unbeaten streak of four games against the Cowgirls. WT holds a 16-2-2 record all-time against NMHU and have won the past two matches, including last year's meeting.
Lady Buff Soccer Leave New Mexico with a 2-1 Victory- September 4, 2025
The Cowgirls struck first early in the opening half on a Ninon Regal strike to the upper corner of the net for the 1-0 lead. The Lady Buffs responded right after halftime as
Lawrencia Yeboah beat the keeper right in front of the net to make it 1-1.
Alair Posard scored the game winner less than four minutes later as
Aaliyah McPeak sent a ball right in front of the net that Posard finished in the upper left corner to make it 2-1.
Franciezca Blancaflor was impressive in goal in her first career game in Maroon & White as the junior from Salado, Texas registered six saves on 12 shots faced.
Scouting Western Colorado
The Western Colorado Mountaineers will also be opening their season Thursday afternoon at The Pitch. WCU has played two preseason games against CSU-Pueblo and Fort Lewis. 2025 saw the Mountaineers post a 2-12-5 record record with a 2-5-5 mark in the RMAC as they finished 10th in the standings and did not reach the playoffs. Coming into this season, Western Colorado was projected to finish 10th in the RMAC.
The offseason saw the Mountaineers lose notable players including Elli Kubena, Karly Morkunas, Cianna Thomas, and Sarah Connolly. Kubena, Morkunas, and Thomas were second, third, and fourth in minutes played in 2025 while Connolly was tied for second in points with five.
Western Colorado returns multiple key players from last year's squad headlined by Natsuki Murakami who was First Team All-RMAC. Murakami played 1303 minutes and led the team in points (eight) and goals (four) while tying for second in shots (28) and finishing third in shots on goal (11). The Mountaineers return two other All-RMAC players in Malia Ramdhanny and Jordan Welsh who both were an Honorable Mention last year. Ramdhanny led the team in minutes with 1576 at the backline while Welsh tied for second in points with five and was third in shots on goal (12). WCU also returns starting goalkeeper Ashlyn Fitzpatrick who produced 76 saves on a 72.4 save percentage and a 2.19 goals allowed average in 14 games.
Head Coach Joshua Alcala enters his third season with Western Colorado in 2026. Alcala holds a record of 6-22-9 in his tenure with a 5-11-8 mark in RMAC play. He previously was an assistant coach at Colorado College in 2022 and 2023.
Scouting New Mexico Highlands
The New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls enter 2026 following a 1-15 record in 2025 where they went 0-12 in the RMAC. NMHU has played two preseason games against Garden City Community College and Otero, both of whom the Lady Buffs played in their preseason slate. The Cowgirls were projected to finish last in the RMAC.
The offseason saw NMHU lose both of their All-RMAC Honorees from 2025 in starting goalkeeper Foguenne Marie-France and forward Kate Rayner who led the team in points with six. Both were All-RMAC Honorable Mentions.
Notable returners for the Cowgirls this season include Peyton Greener, Dalma Zsigo, Ninon Rigal, and Lina Villanueva. Greener made four appearances with three starts in goal and produced nine saves with a 2.71 goals allowed average. Zsigo and Rigal were second and third on the team in points with four and three respectively. Villanueva made 16 starts on defense and led the team in minutes with 1092.
Head Coach Amanda Evans enters her second season with New Mexico Highlands in 2026. Evans spent the previous six seasons at Mary Baldwin University prior to NMHU.
The Cowgirls will open their season on Thursday against WT rival Eastern New Mexico before facing the Lady Buffs on Saturday.
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