Women's Soccer Begins With a Pair of Home Contests

SEASON OPENER
Thursday, August 25 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field
Southern Nazarene (0-0) at St. Mary's (0-0, 0-0) • 7 p.m.

Saturday, August 27 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field
Missouri Western State (0-0) at St. Mary's • 12 p.m.

Opening Up: St. Mary's kicks off the 2022 campaign hosting Southern Nazarene on Thursday and Missouri Western State on Saturday. The Rattlers defeated the Storm 4-1 last season and haven't faced MWSU in school history.

Preseason Poll: The Rattlers were picked to finish sixth in the Lone Star Conference poll in the 13-team league. StMU received 274 points, trailing DBU, Angelo State, West Texas A&M, Midwestern State and Texas Woman's.

2022 LSC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll
Rk    School    1st    Total
1    DBU    24    434
2    Angelo State    10    388
3    West Texas A&M    1    368
4    Midwestern State        363
5    Texas Woman's        323
6    St. Mary's        274
7    St. Edward's        251
8    Lubbock Christian        212
9    UT Tyler        171
10    Oklahoma Christian        163
11    Texas A&M International        117
12    UT Permian Basin        77
13    Eastern New Mexico        44

Oh Captain, My Captain: The two fifth-year seniors on the squad, Megan Copeland and Kylie Von Holle have been named captains for the 2022 season.

Returning All-Region: Senior Megan Copeland has chosen to take her "Covid" year. She is both a two-time Lone Star All-Conference and two-time Lone Star All-Tournament selection, as well as earning D2CCA Second-Team All-Region pick last fall. 

Defending the Goal: As a true freshman in 2021, Rebecca Difronzo led the tough Lone Star Conference with a 0.842 saves percentage, allowing only 18 goals in 18 games with 96 saves. She ranked fifth in goals against average (1.022) and fourth in saves per game (5.33).

Points-a-Plenty: The Rattlers return three of their top four point scorers from a season ago in Juni Ejere, Megan Copeland and Eliza Merrion. Ejere ranked eighth in the Lone Star with 1.13 points per game (18) and earned First-Team All-Conference honors. Megan Copeland was 14th in the league in points and tied for sixth with three game-winners. Merrion added nine points on the season with four goals and one assist in her freshman campaign.

Fresh Faces: Despite having 17 letterwinners return off last season's LSC Quarterfinal run, the Rattlers welcome 15 newcomers and three redshirts to the squad. Three of the 15 are transfers, while the remaining 12 are all first-year student-athletes.