TYLER, Texas – The St. Mary's Women's Soccer Team played the role of spoiler on Tuesday night, handing UT Tyler its first – and only – home loss of the season with a 1-0 victory. The Rattlers also clinched a spot in the seven-team Lone Star Conference Tournament with the win.
The two teams were extremely aggressive, combining for 33 shots and 27 fouls in the game. Eight of the Rattlers (11-3-3, 5-3-3 LSC) 16 shots were on goal, forcing the Patriots (7-4-5, 2-4-5 LSC) keeper Camri Cecil into making seven saves. The Gold & Blue defense held UTT to just two shots on goal in their 17 attempts.
Senior
Juni Ejere (Weatherford, Texas) scored her 10th goal of the season, finding the back of the net in the 32nd minute. It is the second-straight game Ejere has scored and her 10 goals tie her for 10th on the St. Mary's single-season records. It is the most goals scored in a season since Kaitie Kasperitis scored 12 in 2014.
Sophomore
Rebecca Difronzo (Bari, Italy) added two saves to her season total, giving her 44. The defensive line held strong, not giving the Patriots many clean looks at the net. It is the 10th clean sheet recorded by the Rattlers in 2022.
St. Mary's concludes the 2022 regular season at home on Saturday, hosting Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. for Senior Day. Both
Jackie Miller and
Alexis Garcia will be honored in the pregame ceremony. Fellow seniors
Megan Copeland and
Kylie Von Holle were celebrated a season ago before electing to return for their extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic. The Lady Chaps are two points behind the Rattlers in the current standings and the two through four seeds earn the right to host a quarterfinal.
