Women's Soccer Starts NCAA Play on Friday

NCAA TOURNAMENT
Friday, November 11 • Dallas • Patriot Soccer Field
#5 St. Mary's (12-4-4) vs. #4 West Texas A&M (13-3-4) • 2 p.m.

Sunday, November 13 • Dallas • Patriot Soccer Field
Winner vs #1 DBU (16-1-1) • 1 p.m.

A Year of Firsts: One week after playing in its first-ever Lone Star Tournament semifinal, the St. Mary's Women's Soccer team earned its first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Rattlers will face league foe West Texas A&M in the First Round on Friday at 2 p.m. on the DBU campus. 

Defense Wins: Senior defenders Megan Copeland and Jackie Miller both earned spots on the Lone Star Conference All-Tournament team after the Rattlers went 1-1 at the championship. It was Copeland's third-straight selection to the All-Tournament squad, while Miller earned her first honor.

It's An Honor: The Rattlers had seven student-athletes earn Lone Star Conference honors at the end of the year banquet. Both senior Juni Ejere and sophomore Eliza Merrion were named to the All-Academic team, while Ejere and Megan Copeland were tabbed to the All-Conference First Team for the second-straight year.  Both Rebecca Difronzo and Love' Tovar earned Third Team honors and Shelby Paniagua and Sydney Varela were voted onto the All-Freshman team.

Series History: After working a 1-1 draw at West Texas A&M earlier this season, the Rattlers are now 1-10-4 all-time against the Lady Buffs. Should they advance, the Rattlers would look to snap a 19-game losing skid to DBU. StMU dominated the series early before the tide turned as the teams are 18-23-1 all-time in 42 contests. 

Last Meeting: The Rattlers and Lady Buffs drew 1-1 in Canyon on Oct. 22. Senior Juni Ejere scored the first goal in the 58th minute, on a pass from sophomore Barbara Smith. WT knotted the score in the 84th minute. The Lady Buffs outshot the Rattlers 13-5 in the game and sophomore GK Rebecca Difronzo made five saves.

Tough Competition: Three of the team's four losses this season have been to nationally-ranked teams, with two coming at the hands of top-ranked DBU. The other was the team's fourth game in 11 days - a 1-0 loss to St. Edward's

Shout Out for Shut Outs: Sophomore GK Rebecca Difronzo has eight shutouts this season, which ranks second in a single year in St. Mary's history. Rachel Major holds the record with 10 from 1998. For her career, Difronzo has 11 shutouts, which ranks fourth on that list. 

In the Record Books: Fifth-year senior D Megan Copeland tied the school record with her fifth game-winning goal of the year in the 1-0 victory against Oklahoma Christian on Oct. 8. She tied Kyle Hyslop from 2005 on the school's single-season charts and her eight career game-winning goals is tied for third with Deann Lopez (2004-06). The school record is 13 by Hyslop (2003-06), while Kaitie Kasperitis (2011-14) is second with 10.