Men's Soccer Summer Update

SAN ANTONIO – As we move towards Independence Day in the United States, several St. Mary's Men's Soccer players hope to keep the fireworks going on the pitch as they play in two separate summer pre-professional leagues across the Southwest.
 
The Rattlers have 13 members of the 2022 roster playing in either the United Soccer League Two (USL2) or National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), as well as both Head Coach Johnny Clifford and Assistant Coach Gary Tucker coaching for the Laredo Heat in the NPSL.
 
The Heat are in the middle of the standings in the Lone Star Conference in the South Division, posting a 3-4-1 with 10 points. In addition to 2023 graduate Deni Cresto on the team, Clifford also has 2022 graduate Raul Guillamon-Bejar serving as an assistant coach.
 
In second place in the current standings with a 6-2-0 record is West Texas FC, which features the LSC Freshman of the Year, Calum Murdoch. Murdoch is the leading scorer amongst Rattlers in the league with four – including a two-goal night in a 3-2 loss to Denton. He has started seven times and in the second match of the season came off the bench in the 49th minute and scored in the 51st minute in a 5-2 victory for West Texas. Three times in the last four matches Murdoch has played all 90 minutes in the match. The team plays July 1, hosting the Corinthians at 7:30.
 
The Corinthians FC of San Antonio have five Rattlers on the team and sit in fourth place with a record of 4-2-2. Andrick Ferrer, Jose Llano, Santiago Nunez, Juan Jose Valdez Lopez and Enrico Zorzin Onzi have all suited up this summer.
 
Valdez Lopez has started seven of the eight matches, kicking the game winner in the 58^th minute against Fort Worth on May 18. Ferrer has five starts but has not played in the last two and he kicked the game-winning goal in the 16^th minute in a 3-1 win over the Denton Diablos on May 20. Zorzin Onzi has four starts and came off the bench for the first goal in a 2-1 win against Central Texas on June 22. Llano has played 35 minutes over three matches, while Nunez started the last game and saw action in 61 minutes – he's now played in three for a total of 71 minutes.
 
Cooper Stephens is the lone Rattler on the Fort Worth Vaqueros FC. The team is currently 3-6-0 and plays June 28 against Coach Clifford and the Heat. Stephens has started six of the team's nine matches, playing the entire 90 minutes in four of those six.
 
The Corpus Christi FC of the Lone Star Division in the USL2 is 3-2-2 and sports five Rattlers on the team. They next play on July 1 against the Twin City Toucans, hoping to gain points in the standings. Adam Aboohamidi, Alexander Carey, Lewis Coates, Morgan Miller and Jose Rivera have all made an impact on the team this summer.
 
Rivera has started all seven matches, playing all 90 minutes in each. He scored his first goal of the season in the last contest against the Twin City Toucans, doing so in the 16th minute. Aboohamidi has six starts and four goals in his first three matches. He hit the back of the net twice within four minutes in the team's 4-2 win over Houston FC. Recent graduate Morgan Miller has five starts, while Carey has three and Coates has one start – playing the entire 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw against Houston.
 
The Rattlers are coming off one of the best season's in school history, winning the Lone Star Conference regular season and advancing to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.