Women's Soccer Faces Pair of South Central Foes

Friday, September 9 • Gunnison, Colo. • Katy O. Rady Field
St. Mary's (4-0, 0-0) at Western Colorado • 4 p.m. Central/3 p.m. Mountain

Sunday, September 11 • Alamosa, Colo. • ASU Soccer Field
St. Mary's at Adams State • 11 a.m. Central/10 a.m. Mountain

Nation's Leaders: St. Mary's leads the NCAA Division II statistics in shots on goal per game (13.75) and win-loss percentage (1.00). The Rattlers also rank second in the nation in shots per game (24.00), total goals (17) and total points (45). In shots, StMU trails only UT Tyler, while in goals and points they rank behind Catawba.

Headed North: The Rattlers take on a pair of South Central Regional foes, playing at Western Colorado on Friday and Adams State on Sunday.  The Mountaineers are 1-2 on the year, while Adams State is looking for its first win and is 0-2, hosting Texas A&M International on Friday.

Series History: A season ago, the Rattlers won 6-3 over Western Colorado in the first-ever meeting between the clubs. StMU is also 1-0 against Adams State with a 3-2 double overtime win back in 2005.

Two For Two: Senior Juni Ejere was named the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second-straight week. Ejere has six goals and 13 points through the first four games, including a hat trick against Felician on Sept. 2. Ejere has now been named LSC POW three times in her two years with the Rattlers.

Off To A Good Start: The 4-0 start to the year is the best since the 2016 season. That team ended 8-6-4 overall. The 1998, 1999 and 2001 teams started 5-0 in school history and no Rattlers team has ever won their first six.

Goals-a-Plenty: St. Mary's has scored 17 times in the first four games of the season with nine different players finding the back of the net. Senior Juni Ejere leads the team with six, while Megan Copeland has three and Barbara Smith has a pair. Both Eliza Merrion and Kylie Von Holle have two assists each as the Rattlers have 11 assists on 17 goals. 

D-D-D-Defense: St. Mary's has only surrendered eight shots on goal through the first four games. Sophomore Rebecca Difronzo has five of the team's saves, while Melida Garza has the other. The team has shut out half of the opposition and allowed just one goal in each of the other two.

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).