SAN ANTONIO -- Following notable improvements from year one to year two, University of the Incarnate Word women's soccer coach Jake Plant admits his team "hit a road bump" in his third season.

After going 6-8-2 overall with a 3-6-1 mark in the Southland Conference in 2023, UIW made a two-win improvement both overall (8-8-3) and in the SLC (5-4-1) the following season and, in the process, qualified for the conference tournament for the first time in three years.

Hoping for a similar trajectory last fall, Plant says things simply didn't click, as a 2-5-3 mark in Southland play resulted in the Cardinals missing the postseason and led the coaching staff to seek a bit of a reset during the offseason.

"This year, we're very much motivated to not repeat (last year) when we think we underperformed," Plant said. "We had some things internally we feel like we've solved. Soccer-wise, culture-wise...we've got the right group."

So far, he says he's found great set of veteran tone-setters, led seniors Taylor Kish and Kiana Villa, junior Montanna Mathews and grad student Hannah Alexander, who will be tasked with anchoring the defense.

Defenders Kish, Villa and Mathews have played a combined 127 games at UIW and will look to build a wall around Alexander, who played all 1,440 minutes as the team's goalie a season ago. The group helped the Cardinals pitch five shutouts in 2025.

Offensively, sophomore forward Atiana Lara will look to build on a strong freshman campaign where she scored a team-best four goals.

To make the strides he's hoping for, Plant will also lean on strong contributions from his current freshman class, which is expected to account for major minutes.

Forward Zaiba Ishaque and defender Hayden Kish both arrived in January and have parlayed their experience into significant playing time early on. Ishaque, Kish and first-year midfielder Morgan Heintz all started in an exhibition against Texas A&M last week.

They weren't the only newcomers to contribute. Midfielders Abigail Casey and Lily Ruff and defenders Olivia Orellana, Veronica Navarrete Cevada and Louise Coates all saw playing time against the Aggies after impressing veteran teammates with how they acclimated to the program.

"We're creating an environment where we all feel empowered and there's no one bigger than another person," Mathews said. "The culture we're building here is really empowering."

With the season set to start this week, coaches and players believe those cultural improvements will pay off on the field.

"We have a group that can keep the trajectory moving forward," Plant said. "We want to find ourselves in a conference final, ultimately, and this is a squad that can absolutely do it."

Villa took things a step further, stating "We want to win our conference. Everything we're gearing towards is winning our conference, going to (the NCAA Tournament) and making a name for ourselves. We want to prove we deserve to be here and we want to win."

UIW opens the regular season on the road against in-state foe Prairie View A&M at 7 p.m. Wednesday, then will host Texas A&M San Antonio in the home opener Sunday at 7 p.m.

The Cardinals have won five straight against Prairie View by the combined score of 20-1. This includes a 5-0 rout in San Anotnio last season where they held a 17-1 shot advantage.
 

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