THE RECAP
The St. Mary's Rattlers dominated their way to 3-0 shutout win over the OLLU Saints on Thursday night behind a two-goal performance from Senior Deni Cresto. The Rattlers (3-2) monopolized the offense on an evening where the community turned out in full force to watch the local rivals.
The Rattlers owned the possession battle all game long, but still found themselves knotted up, 0-0, with mere seconds left in the first half. However, a foul in the goal box gave Cresto his first opportunity of the night. With three seconds left on the clock before the half, Cresto went into the upper left corner with his penalty kick for the first strike of the night.
With a 1-0 lead at the break, the Rattlers returned to the pitch and put the pedal down once again. Alonso Rodriguez pounced on a turnover in the 64th minute and beat the keeper by firing a low bullet that deflected off the arm of the netminder.
With the result in little doubt, the Rattlers pushed one final score across when Cresto took a free kick from just outside the box. Cresto perfectly bent the ball under the cross bar, putting an exclamation point on the evening and another tally in the win column for the Rattlers.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- The Rattlers are now 3-1 against Our Lady of the Lake all-time.
- Thursday marked the first ever multi-goal game for Deni Cresto in his collegiate career.
- St. Mary's has their first winning streak of the season and will put it on the line against UT-Tyler next week.
HEAD COACH JOHNNY CLIFFORD ON THE EFFORT
"Yeah it's a good win for us. It's always nice to get to play against your neighbors. I thought the boys were brilliant tonight, they dominated from start to finish and I'm really proud of them. We've got a couple of days off now to recover and prepare for UT-Tyler and DBU. It's on us to get ready and defend our home field."
UP NEXT
The Rattlers will enjoy a weekend free of competition before hosting UT-Tyler and DBU in a pair of nonconference matchups next week. St. Mary's will welcome UT-Tyler to town on Wednesday night for "Rattlers in the Pros Night". Kickoff is at 5 p.m.
