Men's Soccer Begins Regular Season With LSC Foes

Thursday, August 31 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field
UT Tyler (0-0-0) at  #9 St. Mary's (0-0-0) • 5 p.m.

Saturday, September 2 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field
West Texas A&M (0-0-0) at #9 St. Mary's • 5 p.m.

Picked to Repeat: St. Mary's was picked to repeat as Lone Star Conference regular season champions and is looking to be the first to repeat since the league added soccer back in 2019. The Rattlers have won the regular season twice (2019, 2022) while Midwestern State (2021) and West Texas A&M  (2020) have each won once. StMU totaled 283 points in the 2023 preseason poll and 22 of the 30 first-place votes. Midwestern State is second, West Texas A&M third, DBU fourth and Oklahoma Christian fifth.

Season Opener: The Rattlers open the 2023 regular season against UT Tyler in a non-conference affair. StMU holds a 4-2-2 lead in the all-time series and both contests last year were draws as the teams tied 0-0 in a non-conference match and drew 1-1 on the Rattlers Senior Night. The Gold & Blue also host West Texas A&M on Sunday. WT holds a 6-21-4 lead in the series and both matches a season ago were draws, 1-1 in Canyon and 0-0 in San Antonio.

It's An Honor: Both senior goalkeeper Andre Schlaefli and junior defender Andrick Ferrer were named the Lone Star Conference Preseason Players of the Year. The pair were both First-Team All-Conference and All-Region selections a season ago, while Schlaefli was the Goalkeeper of the Year in the league and went on to win All-American Third-Team honors by D2CCA.

In Goal: A season ago, goalkeeper Andre Schlaefli ended the year tied for the nation's lead in shutouts with 12 and finished second in save percentage (.875). He broke the Lone Star Conference individual shutout record of 11 by Raul Herrera from Midwestern State (2009). His 11 victories also tied the St. Mary's single season record. He is already the StMU career leader in both wins (22) and shutouts (19) entering his senior campaign.

Melting Pot: The Rattlers are once again a great mix of nationalities and personalities on the 2023 roster as StMU has players hailing from 12 different countries. Colombia, England (4), Germany (2), Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Scotland (2), Spain, United Arab Emirates and the United States (13) are all represented.

Highest Ranking: St. Mary's is ranked No. 9 in the USC Preseason Poll, the highest-ever preseason ranking for the club. The preseason poll echoes the 2022 final poll. Midwestern State from the Lone Star is also ranked #18, while 2023 opponent Colorado State-Pueblo enters the season ranked #2.

A Move to the Sidelines: After a stellar career with the Rattlers, Deni Cresto makes the move to assistant coach in 2023. Cresto ended his career ranked fifth in games started (66), tied for fourth in game-winning goals (5), fifth in assists (19) and sixth in minutes played (5376).