CANYON, TEXAS – West Texas A&M Women's Soccer closes out the non-conference portion of their schedule this week with their first road trip of the season. The Lady Buffs will travel to Colorado to take on Adams State on Thursday, September 3 and then Fort Lewis College on Saturday, September 5. Thursday's game is set for 3:00 p.m. CT while Saturday's game will kickoff at 12:00 p.m. CT.
Follow the Lady Buffs
Both games will be streamed live on the
RMAC Network (registration required). Live stats will be provided by Adams State on
Thursday and then
Fort Lewis on Saturday.
Last Time Out
West Texas A&M opened their 2026 campaign this past week as they hosted Western Colorado and New Mexico Highlands at The Pitch.
Lady Buffs Concede Late in 2-1 Season Opening Loss- August 27, 2026
WT found themselves in an early hole as the Mountaineers struck first with a goal in the 9th minute. The Lady Buffs stabilized in the middle of the half as they generated four shots on goal in an 11-minute span with freshman
Braely Martinez equalizing the game in the 38th minute. Martinez would receive a pass from Sarah Hernadez Lopez right outside the box and fought to take possession of the ball. The Windsor, Colorado native won that battle and dribbled inside before firing a shot off her left foot toward the left post that found the back of the net. The score would stay tied 1-1 going into halftime.
The Lady Buffs would carry their late momentum into the second half as they continued to battle for scoring chances. WT strung together quality chances with four shots on goal from the 73rd minute to the 78th minute but were unable to find their second goal. Following a goal kick, the Mountaineers would push the pace and chip in a goal at the top of the box to retake the lead. West Texas A&M would not register a shot in the final 10 minutes as they would be defeated 2-1 against Western Colorado.
Top Lady Buffs
- Braely Martinez scored her first career goal during her 28 minutes of action on her lone shot.
- Ryann Davis played all 90 minutes on defense. This was her 13th career game playing all 90 minutes.
- Riley Sims registered two shots on goal in 81 minutes in the midfield.
Three First Half Goals Propel Lady Buffs to First Win of 2026- August 29, 2026
The Lady Buffs set the tone in the early minutes of the game as their extended defensive pressure would force turnovers and create scoring chances. WT would record four shots (two on goal) with two corner kicks through the first eight minutes but would strike gold in the 9th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Following a forced turnover, WT would work the ball into their attacking zone where
Sienna Hurrell dumped a ball off to
Braely Martinez right outside the box in the top right corner. With her left foot, Martinez rocketed a shot to the top left corner of the netting past the keeper to give the Lady Buffs a 1-0 lead. West Texas A&M continued to stack shots and chances throughout the half as they controlled 61% of possession in the half. In the 29th minute,
Bailee Ramirez would create another quality chance for WT as blasted a shot to the top right corner over 20 feet outside the box. New Mexico Highlands would save the shot, but right at the doorstep was
Jade Martinez who tapped in the ball off the rebound for the second goal of the game for the Lady Buffs. Right before halftime in the 42nd minute, WT struck again following a corner kick from
Bailey Malone. Perfectly placing the ball in harms way, WT was able to corral the ball as
Sarah Hernandez Lopez took a shot in the box, but the Cowgirls would come away with a save. Despite saving the initial shot, they would misplay it and
Kennedy Casello cleaned it up off the rebound and knock it into the back of the net to give WT a 3-0 lead going into the half.
The second half was another strong offensive performance for the Lady Buffs as they tallied 15 shots with six on goal. Although they did not score in the second half, they continuously applied pressure and generated opportunities to extend the lead. After an excellent defensive first half where they allowed zero shots, WT strung together another great half with New Mexico Highlands only mustering four shots with two on goal, both of which would be saved handedly by
Franciezca Blancaflor. A solid all-around performance by West Texas A&M led to their first victory of the season as they took down New Mexico Highlands 3-0 in the shutout.
Top Lady Buffs
- Braely Martinez recorded her second straight game with a goal and is up to four points on the year. She also added three shots with one landing on goal as she started and played 49 minutes.
- Jade Martinez played 45 minutes in the midfield and scored her first goal of the season on her lone shot. This was her third career goal.
- Kennedy Casello scored her first career goal in 27 minutes of play. Casello also tacked on four shots with three landing on goal.
Salado Standout
With six saves and a shutout win in the opening week,
Franciezca Blancaflor passed Sarah Anderson (2004-05) for ninth place in career saves at WT with 76. She is now six saves from passing Graduate Assistant Coach
Daniela Estrada (2019-21, 81) for eighth place. With her shutout victory over New Mexico Highlands, the Salado, Texas native is one shutout from tying McKynzie Zick (2014-15) for tenth in career shutouts with five. Blancaflor is now up to eight career wins and currently sits in ninth place.
Freshman Firepower
Freshman
Braely Martinez played her first two collegiate games this past week and found the back of the net in both games to go with four shots and two shots on goal. She is the first Lady Buff since
Lawrencia Yeboah in 2025 to score in back-to-back games. The last Lady Buff to score in three or more consecutive games was All-American Mariah-Frances Serrant in 2022 who had a goal streak of seven games.
Weekly Recap with Head Coach Turk Ozturk
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.
Series History
Thursday's game against Adams State will be the 12th all-time meeting between the programs with West Texas A&M holding an 8-1-2 advantage. WT has a current unbeaten streak of five consecutive games against ASU with a tie in last year's match.
Lady Buffs and Grizzlies Battle to a Scoreless Draw in Canyon- September 6, 2025
The two teams traded possession for most of the match as the Lady Buffs held the ball for 52% of the 90 minute shutout. WT tallied 12 shots with seven of them coming in the second half.
Franciezca Blancaflor was impressive in goal again for the Lady Buffs as the Salado, Texas native tallied five save on eight Adams State shots as four of them came on goal in the shutout.
Saturday's game against Fort Lewis will be game 14 between the Lady Buffs and Skyhawks. WT holds a 10-3 advantage in the series, but have lost the previous two matches. The teams last played in 2024 where FLC came away with a 4-2 win.
Scouting Adams State
The Adams State University Grizzlies come into this game holding a 2-0 record with a 2-0 win against Wayland Baptist and a 1-0 victory over Lone Star Conference (LSC) foe Sul Ross State. 2025 saw ASU produce a 9-8-3 record with a 4-6-2 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). The Grizzlies reached the RMAC Tournament and took down CSU-Pueblo 2-0 before falling 4-1 to Colorado School of Mines. Adams State came into this season projected to finish 11th in the RMAC.
The offseason saw Adams State lose three of their five All-Conference Players including Fatso Williams (Second Team), Grace Abbott (Honorable Mention), and Colette Tena (Honorable Mention). Williams and Abbott were the two leading scorers for the Grizzlies a season ago with 21 and 16 points respectively. Tena started 18 of 19 games on defense and tallied three assists in 1179 minutes. ASU also graduate starting goalkeeper Ashlyn Bartley who started every game and notched a 1.20 goals allowed average with 60 saves.
The two returning All-Conference players for the Grizzlies are Annabell Haugen and Ashlyn De Lemos who both were Honorable Mention All-RMAC. Haugen was third on the team in minutes with 1480 on defense while De Lemos totaled 10 points from four goals and two assists.
Through two games, Keira Robertson leads ASU in points (four), goals (two), shots (six), and shots on goal (five). De Lemos scored the other goal for the Grizzlies and also has five shots with four landing on goal. Goalkeepers Kena Keyes and Clarissa Ramirez have both seem action between the pipes playing 103 and 76 minutes respectively. Keyes has five saves while Ramirez has two. Neither have allowed a goal.
Head Coach Victoria Bonilla currently serves as the Interim Head Coach for Adams State. Bonilla was the lead assistant for the Grizzlies last season.
Adams State will take on Oklahoma Panhandle State University on Tuesday before facing the Lady Buffs on Thursday.
Scouting Fort Lewis
The Fort Lewis College Skyways come into this match holding a 1-0-1 record following an opening week against a pair of LSC foes. FLC tied St. Mary's 1-1 and beat Lubbock Christian 2-1. The Skyhawks are coming off a 11-5-3 record in 2025 with a 7-2-2 mark in the RMAC. They would beat Regis 2-0 in the RMAC Tournament before falling to Colorado Mesa 1-0. Fort Lewis came into this season projected to finish fourth in the RMAC.
In the offseason, Fort Lewis graduated three of their six All-Conference Honorees including Anna Tucker (Second Team), Renee Junna (Second Team), and Abigail Nkrumah (Honorable Mention). Tucker finished second on the team in points with 17. Junna led all Skyhawk field players in minutes with 1619 on defense while Nkrumah produced six points from two goals and assists with 39 shots.
The three returning All-RMAC players for FLC are Jenna Salazar (Second Team), Ann Spencer (Second Team), and Trinity Lujan (Honorable Mention). Salazar led the Skyhawks in scoring with 20 points from eight goals and four assists. She also fired 57 shots with 25 landing on goal. Spence started all 19 games in the midfield and scored one goal in 1596 minutes. Lujan was the starting keeper and made 61 saves on an 89.7 percentage to go with a 0.38 goals allowed average. She would be named RMAC Freshman of the Year.
Through two games, Addyson Carpentier leads FLC in scoring with four points from two goals. Emma Gurule has scored the other goal for Fort Lewis. Lujan has started both games in net and has eight saves on an 80.0 percentage with a 1.00 goals allowed average.
Head Coach Damian Clarke enters his 15th season with Fort Lewis ahead of the 2026 season. Clarke holds a 158-73-61 record during his tenure.
For all the latest on West Texas A&M Women's Soccer, stay tuned to
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