BAKERSFIELD, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team was handed its first defeat of the 2026 season on Thursday evening, fighting out of an early hole but failing to go all the way and falling by a final score of 2-1.
In their first road match of the 2026 season, the Islanders (3-1-2) ended up having to play at a deficit very quickly, surrendering first in the ninth minute after the run of play had shifted following a couple of promising early chances. Following this goal, the visitors did wrestle some momentum back, getting a few more shots on goal from
Vanessa Wimbish and
Grace Clay that forced saves from Roadrunners (1-4-0) keeper Addyson Evans. From here, however, things took a dramatic shift, as in the 23
rd minute, both
Jenna Largent and CSUB's Tania Tapia were shown simultaneous red cards, forcing both teams to play a man down for the rest of the night.
Following this turn of events, A&M-Corpus Christi fell even deeper into its deficit, surrendering a corner kick in the 28
th minute and seeing CSUB capitalize on it to go up 2-0 in front of its home fans. Now needing to ramp up the comeback effort, it again turned up the heat offensively, putting three shots on goal from
MyJoi Anderson and
Alisa Divano in quick succession and then getting another from Anderson right before the end of the half. None of these found the back of the net, though, bringing the team into the break needing a pair of goals over the final 45 minutes.
Much like the end of the first period, the Islanders came out swinging once they hit the pitch, starting with a near miss from
Mackenzie Mackreth and continuing with another from Divano not long after. Once the 65
th minute rolled around, they finally found the breakthrough that they had been looking for, with it coming when
Ashley Wilson sent a perfect cross into the box that Anderson sent home to cut Bakersfield's lead down to 2-1.
Now with a newfound spark, A&M-Corpus Christi came about as close as it could to netting the equalizing goal just a few minutes later. Its first dangerous opportunity came on a corner in the 68
th minute, when the ball found Anderson in position once again but was kept out by Evans. Right after, it ended up being a team effort by the Roadrunners, as after a Clay shot in the box was turned back,
Sophia Dias found the ball at her foot and sent in a shot that was denied by the CSUB backline with Evans out of position. Another try by Dias squirted just right of the post, marking the end of what was likely the best chance of the night to not go in.
The Islanders were not deterred by this miss, though, continuing to pepper the goal mouth of the hosts with shots as the clock ticked down. Reigning Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week
Katie Porter put up two herself that forced more saves, and after her, Wimbish got one close but could not find the back of the net. In the final minutes, they pushed the issue one final time, but a pair of shots from Anderson and
Dakota Merino that ended up wide brought things to the buzzer with an unfortunate conclusion.
The final scoresheet did not end up reflecting what the final score indicated, with A&M-Corpus Christi putting up 22 shots in total and a whopping 16 on target as opposed to just eight and two respectively from the Roadrunners on the other side. The blue and green also were fouled more and took the same amount of corner kicks, showing just how much they were able to threaten with the ball at their feet. Individually, Anderson led the way with five shots and four on goal, while Divano, Clay, Wimbish and Porter all followed behind with multiple shots on net throughout the evening.
The Islanders will now try to bounce back in the second leg of their California road trip, traveling to take on Fresno State on Sunday at 2 p.m.
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