Western Kentucky’s women’s soccer team will take its longest Conference USA trip away from home of the season on Thursday, going on the road to take on UTSA at 7 p.m at the Park West Athletics Complex in San Antonio, Texas.

The Lady Toppers (5-8-1, 2-4-1 C-USA) are coming off a pair of home victories over Florida Atlantic and FIU last weekend, picking up six points in the C-USA standings. Heading into Thursday night’s match, WKU sits three points out of the eighth and final qualifying spot for the C-USA Tournament with three games left to play.

Chandler Backes netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season against FIU on Sunday, moving into a tie for 10th place on WKU’s all-time career chart in the category. In just 33 matches at WKU, the sophomore has scored 15 goals to match Morgan Thomas’ goal-scoring mark. Backes is now just three goals shy of passing Betsy Duncan for ninth place in all-time goals among Lady Toppers.

Freshman Tally Bishop made her mark in WKU’s victories last weekend, notching the match-winner against Florida Atlantic before adding the insurance goal to secure the win over FIU. The Nashville native now has three goals on the season, including another match-winner in the season opener at Lipscomb on Aug. 18.

Defensively, WKU sports both the reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Week in Christina Bragado and the Goalkeeper of the Week with Allison Leone. Bragado, who has started every match at center back in 2017, claimed the honor for the second time this season after leading the Lady Toppers’ defense to a pair of shutouts; under Bragado’s watch, WKU has also not surrendered a goal in 252 consecutive minutes dating back to Oct. 6.

Leone, one of the top goalkeepers in program history, made four combined saves against the Owls and Panthers last weekend to register her fourth and fifth solo shutouts of the season. The senior now has 27 for her career, the second-best mark in school history, and 286 saves, which trail only Meredith Goodson and Libby Stout on the WKU charts. With her Goalkeeper of the Week honor, Leone also became the most decorated weekly award winner in WKU women’s soccer history, bringing home her fourth career honor and second this season.

UTSA (2-12, 1-6 C-USA) enters Thursday’s match on a five-match skid, with its last victory coming in a 1-0 decision on the road at Middle Tennessee on Sept. 24. The Roadrunners have netted only eight goals in 14 matches this season, led by four strikes from freshman Ellis Patterson. Channing Machen has tallied three goals for UTSA, while Marianne Hernandez notched the final score for the Roadrunners.

In goal, the Roadrunners have split time between Michelle Cole and Gabriella Mariello, with Cole playing 745 minutes and Mariello manning the posts for 515 minutes. Mariello sports a 1.92 goals against average with 11 goals surrendered and 25 saves, while Cole has given up 27 goals and made 49 stops for a 3.26 goals against average. In total, UTSA has given up 38 goals in 2017, the most of any team in C-USA.

WKU holds a perfect 3-0 record in the all-time series against the Roadrunners, defeating UTSA once in each of the last three seasons since joining C-USA. In the most recent meeting between the two sides, the Lady Toppers claimed a 2-0 win in rainy conditions behind two late goals from Sarah Gorham (88th minute) and Iris Dunn (89th minute) in Bowling Green.

Following Thursday’s match, the Lady Toppers will be back in action for their regular season home finale Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. at the WKU Soccer Complex as they square off against Marshall. WKU will honor each of its five seniors; Leone, Nahyo Jalajel, Shayna Dheel, Bria Mosley and Hannah Chua; in a post-match ceremony following the bout with the Thundering Herd.