Cardozo Brace Lifts Men's Soccer to Win Over #25 CSU Pueblo

PUEBLO, Colo. – A pair of late goals by senior transfer Ariel Cardozo lifted the St. Mary's Men's Soccer Team to a 2-1 win over #25 Colorado State Pueblo on Wednesday night.
 
Scoreless after the first half, the Thunderwolves (3-2) struck first, scoring at the 74:38 mark on a header by Shjon Andrews off a free kick by Kenshin Uneo.
 
Less than 10 minutes later the Rattlers (1-0-1) answered as Cardozo (Ciudad de Este, Paraguay) headed in a corner kick by senior Deni Cresto (Curitiba, Parana, Brazil) into the lower right corner of the net to tie the score at 1-1.
 
Sixty-eight seconds later, Cardozo hit the right corner of the net off a double rebound for the game winning goal. Freshman Adam Aboohamidi (Wolfforth, Texas) hit the crossbar with his shot, which rebounded to junior Dani Gimena (Ondara, Alicante, Spain). His shot was blocked by a defender right to Cardozo, who shot past a mass of bodies into the top left corner at 84:24 for the team's first win of the year.

"Football is a crazy game," said Head Coach Johnny Clifford. "I thought we played okay tonight, but we can definitely be better. Our ability to keep going and our never say die attitude is what sets us apart. I'm very proud of the boys and we will rest, recover and get ready for another tough game on Friday."
 
Each team had five shots on the night, with the Rattlers recording three on goal and the Thunderwolves two. Junior goalkeeper Andre Schlaefli (Katy, Texas) posted one save. 
 
The Rattler remain in Colorado, taking on UC Colorado Springs on Friday at 12:30 p.m. The Mountain Lions are 3-1-1 on the season after beating Lubbock Christian 3-1 earlier on Wednesday.
 
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES

• Both games this season have come against ranked opponents as the Rattlers tied #17 West Texas A&M 1-1 in the opener and won Wednesday 2-1 at #25 CSU-Pueblo. 
• All three goals this season have been scored by defenders.
• The goals for Ariel Cardozo are the third and fourth of his career as he scored two in 55 games at McKendree before transferring to the Rattlers.
• Senior Deni Cresto now has 12 assists to his name as he notched his first of the year on Wednesday. His season-high for assists is five from 2020.
• Cardozo, Cresto, freshman Luke Mulkey and junior goalkeeper Andre Schlaefli played all 90 minutes for the Rattlers. In fact, the quartet has been on the pitch the entire 180 minutes of the season thus far.