Wednesday, October 4 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field
*Angelo State (3-5-2, 2-1-1) at St. Mary's (4-2-4, 3-1-0) • 5 p.m.Â
Saturday, October 7 • Denton • Pioneer Soccer Park
*St. Mary's at Texas Woman's (8-1-1, 3-1-0) • 1 p.m.Â
Another Split Week: For the third-straight week, the St. Mary's Women's Soccer team will play one match at home and one on the road, hosting Angelo State on Wednesday in a doubleheader with the men's team that will be Pink Out for both teams, and traveling to Denton for a match-up with Texas Woman's at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Win #30: The 2-1 victory over Midwestern State on Saturday was the 30th of Head Coach Kevin Driggs' career. In his fourth season with the Rattlers, Driggs has increased his number of wins in every season and with six more victories he will tie for third all-time at StMU. Joe Mendoza is currently third with 36 wins (36-17-1).
Series History: Angelo State holds a slight 12-10-1 advantage in the all-time series with St. Mary's but the Rattlers won the last meeting in San Antonio. StMU upset the Rambelles who were ranked #12 with a 2-1 victory on Sept. 22, 2021. A season ago, ASU won 1-0 in San Angelo. The Rattlers hold a 5-1-2 lead in the eight meetings with Texas Woman's and are 2-0-1 in games played in Denton. Last season, the two teams played to a scoreless draw.
Lucky Number 13: Shelby Paniagua now has three game-winning goals this season, becoming the 13th player in St. Mary's history to tie for the seventh-most winners. The single season record for game-winners is five held by both Kyle Hyslop (2005) and current graduate assistant Megan Copeland (2022).
National Leader: Goalkeeper Rebecca Difronzo is one of 15 players tied for the nation's lead for minutes in goal with 900. Difronzo has played all 90 minutes in each of the 10 games this year. She moves into third on the St. Mary's career minutes played chart with 4188:45, passing Erin Longford (2016-19), who played in 4157:83.
Small Bump: The Rattlers dropped two spots from seventh to ninth in the United Soccer Coaches South Central Region poll. StMU is the fourth-highest ranked team in the Lone Star Conference, trailing DBU (3rd), Texas Woman's (6th) and St. Edward's (7th).
Second Half Push: The Rattlers have been more aggressive in the second half of matches this season, taking 89 shots compared to 55 in the first half. The Gold and Blue have also out-shot the opposition 89-to-66 in the second half. Scoring is even between the two periods, with nine finishes in each half.
Back-to-Back: St. Mary's was awarded back-to-back Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week awards with senior Juni Ejere and sophomore Shelby Paniagua each being honored. Ejere scored one goal in each of the two victories for the Rattlers in week five, helping the Rattlers to a 2-0 start for the second time in Lone Star Conference history. Paniagua won the award in week four after scoring a goal in each contest for a pair of draws.
