THE RECAP
The St. Mary's Rattlers defended their home turf over South Dakota Mines, claiming a decisive 3-1 victory. The Rattlers flexed their offensive strength over the Hardrockers on an emotional day as both teams honored the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
The Rattlers fell behind early, allowing a goal just 67 seconds into the contest. While it might have been easy to become gun-shy after such an immediate goal, the Rattlers bowed up and responded just a few minutes later. Alonso Rodriguez found the back of the net for his first goal of the season after a beautiful touch from Edu Bonatto.
The sides would head into the break all tied at 1-1, but StMU came out firing in the second half. Erwin Regules put one past the goalkeeper in the 51st minute to grab the 2-1 lead. Regules would add his second goal of the game (third of the season) just 12 minutes later to finalize the scoring on Saturday afternoon. Both goals were assisted by Cian Foley.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- The Rattlers collect their first home win of the season and now have a wave of momentum heading into the last three games of this homestand.
- St. Mary's outshot the 'Rockers 23-4 over the course of 90 minutes.
- The Rattlers horded corner kicks on Saturday, laying claim to all four taken on the day.
HEAD COACH JOHNNY CLIFFORD ON THE WIN
"I thought we showed improvements today. We had some things we knew we had to do better and we tried to focus on that. We created a lot more chances and really dictated the game at times, but also had moments when we switched off and almost got punished. It was a good step forward, and we showed some real confidence in possession. Now it's time to focus on preparing for our neighbors in OLLU."
UP NEXT
The Rattlers welcome their neighbors from just down the road, Our Lady of the Lake, to Sigma Beta Chi Field for Community Night. Rattler Athletics encourages anyone from the local community to come enjoy a night at the park starting with kickoff at 7 p.m.
