Women's Soccer Drops Heartbreaker in First Round

DALLAS — Two goals in nine minutes shattered the hearts of St. Mary's University Women's Soccer fans in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, as the Rattlers fell 2-1 to UCCS on Thursday afternoon.
 
Senior Natalie Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas) put the Rattlers (11-6-5) on the scoreboard first in the 28th minute, kicking the ball off the defender into the net. Sophomore Shelby Paniagua (Cibolo, Texas) set up the shot, placing the corner kick in the middle of the box for sophomore Valerie Hover (McKinney, Texas) to head toward the goal. 
 
The assist for Paniagua was her 12th of the season, moving her into third on the St. Mary's single-season list and only two off the record of 14 by Natalie Moore from 2003.
 
"We got that early goal off the corner, which was huge," said Head Coach Kevin Driggs. "We talked about at half time what they do well and how we could combat that in the second half and credit to them, they're a good team. I think they did a good job of breaking us down in the second half."
 
The Rattlers sustained the lead until the 67th minute when the Mountain Lions (13-5-3) scored on a shot that bounced off the crossbar into the net by Sydney Lasater. UCCS gained the lead nine minutes later when Emily Aguilar took a cross from Taylynn Levi in the 76th minute for the victory.
 
Rebecca Difronzo (Bari, Italy), Hover, Jackie Miller (El Paso, Texas), Paniagua and Abigail Wilson (Tomball, Texas) all started their 22nd games of the season, establishing a new StMU record for season starts. The five started all 22 games of the year in helping the Rattlers reach back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
 
The Rattlers say goodbye to an outstanding group of seniors in Juni Ejere (Weatherford, Texas), Olivia Galvan (San Antonio), Melida Garza (New Braunfels, Texas), Miller, Tori Permillion (Plano, Texas), Love' Tovar (El Paso) and Maggie Wirebaugh (San Antonio).