DALLAS, Texas – Playing in the cold, wet wintry weather in Dallas, the St. Mary's Women's Soccer team lost 2-1 to West Texas A&M in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
"I thought it was a good game," said Head Coach Kevin Driggs. "I thought we came out hard, and had some chances early."
 
The Rattlers conclude one of the best seasons in school history with a 12-5-4 record and say goodbye to a stellar senior class in Megan Copeland (San Antonio), Alexis Garcia (West Covina, Calif.), Jackie Miller (El Paso, Texas) and Kylie Von Holle (Midland, Texas).
 
All three goals in the game were scored in an eight-minute stretch as the Lady Buffs (14-3-4) broke onto the scoreboard first in the 28th minute on the 17th goal of the year from Maria-Frances Serrant.
 
"I thought after getting one going into the wind, we'd score at least one with the wind, but that didn't work out for us," said Copeland. "I thought we played hard though and am proud of everything we accomplished."
 
The Rattlers answered four minutes later when sophomore Eliza Merrion (Park City, Utah) found Juni Ejere (Weatherford, Texas) for her 12th goal of the year. In the 36th minute, WT took the lead again and never relinquished it, setting up a Second Round battle against host, DBU on Sunday.
 
Despite the cold weather, the two teams combined for 36 shots in the game and the Rattlers made seven saves. Sophomore goalkeeper Rebecca Difronzo (Bari, Italy) made six of the saves – all in the first half. StMU had several opportunities to even the score in the second stanza as they took five corner kicks, but the score remained 2-1 throughout.