Women's Soccer Hosts WT for Senior Night

Friday, November 3 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field • Senior Night
*West Texas A&M (1-9-6, 0-7-4) at St. Mary's (8-4-5, 7-3-1) • 7:30 p.m.

Wrapping Things Up: The St. Mary's Women's Soccer team wraps up the regular season against West Texas A&M for Senior Night on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The seniors on the roster will be honored in a pre-game ceremony starting at 7:10 p.m.

Locked In: The Rattlers have clinched a spot in the 2023 Lone Star Conference Tournament, though seeding is still to be determined. DBU has captured its fifth-straight regular season title with one game remaining on the slate. 

Series History: The Rattlers trail 11-1-4 in the all-time series with West Texas A&M and haven't tallied an outright win since 2001. On their home field, the Rattlers are 1-4-2 against the Lady Buffs.

Close to the Top: St. Mary's ranks second in the league statistics in assists (1.29), corner kicks (5.82), and points per game (5.06), trailing only DBU. The Rattlers also rank in the top 80 in the nation in all three categories. Individually, Shelby Paniagua is second in the conference in game-winning goals (3) and Rebecca Difronzo is second in goalie minutes played (1521:38).

Tough Defense: Junior Rebecca Difronzo recorded a season-high seven saves at Oklahoma Christian, and followed that up with six saves against #25 DBU, making her the fourth player in school history to record 200 saves in a career. Difronzo now has 204 saves, needing 19 more to move into a tie for third in school history. (223, Jennifer O'Connor, 2001-04).

Pointillism: Senior Juni Ejere has collected 57 points in her three seasons with the Rattlers, good for seventh place on the career charts. Her 25 career goals also rank fifth in St. Mary's history.

Pick Your Poison: Defenders can't key on one player in the St. Mary's lineup this season to shut down as four Rattlers have collected 10 or more points. It is the first time since 2016 StMU has had four players post double digits as that season Alexia Maldonado (15), Rachel Gurinsky (14), Heather Dawson (12) and Roxy Cruz Santory (10) each broke the milestone, while this year Shelby Paniagua (19), Sydney Varela (15), Juni Ejere (12) and Alexis Truitt (11) have each accomplished the feat.

By The Numbers: The Rattlers are +11 in goals this season and +41 in shots in 2023. The Rattlers have 55 more shots in the second half than in the first and 44 more shots than their opponents after the break. StMU has taken 38 more corner kicks than the opposition, including 31 more in the second stanza.

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).