SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's Men's Soccer team suffered its first Lone Star Conference loss of the season on Tuesday night as the West Texas A&M Buffs scored two goals in the first half on their way to a 2-1 victory over the Rattlers.
The Buffs struck early on an 11th minute penalty kick goal by Giancarlo Saldana after he was pulled down in the box.
St. Mary's nearly evened the game up when
Deni Cresto took a rip at an attempted punchout by the Buffs keeper, but Alexander Vencel turned Cresto's shot attempt away to keep the Buffs 1-0 lead intact.
Just three minutes before halftime, Saldana got behind the St. Mary's defense after a giveaway for his second goal of the game to give West Texas A&M a 2-0 lead with one half in the books.
Collins Gitau cut the St. Mary's lead in half when the freshman made a play on a long ball from
Lewis Wilson, burying it in the back of the net to make it 2-1 with 28 minutes left in the match. The goal is the first of Gitau's career.
St. Mary's could not create many scoring chances for the remainder of the match. Cresto put the only Rattler shot on goal in the final 28 minutes of the game.
The Rattlers will return to the pitch on Saturday as they travel to Oklahoma City to take on the Oklahoma Christian Eagles. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
