The UTEP soccer team’s home debut resulted in a 1-0 win over the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions on Aug. 22.

Prior to the team’s game against Texas A&M-Commerce, the Miners were on the road facing off against Abilene Christian Aug. 17. In that matchup, neither team managed to score a goal ending in a 0-0 draw.

The Miners are coming off a less than stellar year under Head Coach Gibbs Keeton. In his first season, Keeton’s squad went 2-11-4 and finished eighth in conference above Jax State.

The lone goal came in the 22nd minute of the first half, senior forward Taya Lopez passed the ball to newcomer freshman forward Ana Quintero.

Quintero, who hails from Panama City, Panamá, scored her first goal in a UTEP uniform.

The Miners struggled with some foul issues racking up 13 fouls in the 90 minutes of play.

Lopez, freshman defender Ashlee Mora and senior forward Hayden McMillan each had 2 shots during the game with Lopez and Quintero leading the team with one shot on goal each.

Senior goalkeeper Angelina Amparano notched six saves in the game.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M-Commerce lead the game on shots with 14 and shots-on-target with 6.

After the game, Keaton expressed his admiration for Texas A&M-Commerce and emphasized the weight of this win.

“Tonight was important for us because Texas A&M–Commerce was picked to finish second in the Southland, and that’s a great conference,” Keeton said. “They finished second last year as well. They are super tough and beat us 3-2 last season and are very well coached. For us to win tonight is massive to get us in the right direction and push us forward.”

The Miners stay in the Sun City to face off against the University of California-Riverside Highlanders at noon Sunday, Aug. 25 at University Field for the team’s “Back to School” game.

Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela Armendariz is the editor-in-chief and may be reached at [email protected] and @rivasemmanuel2 on Instagram.