Women's Soccer Begins League Play with 3-1 Win Against the Patriots

SAN ANTONIO – A fast-paced first half helped lift the St. Mary's University Women's Soccer team to a Lone Star Conference season-opening victory over University of Texas-Tyler, 3-1 on Wednesday evening at Sigma Beta Chi Field.
 
The Rattlers scored back-to-back goals within 10 minutes and tacked on a goal late in the second half to snap a four-game streak of draws and improve to 2-1-4 on the year.
 
Senior Juni Ejere (Weatherford, Texas) opened the scoring, scoring in the 23rd minute on a double assist from Alexis Truitt (Boerne, Texas) and Maggie Wirebaugh (San Antonio). Ejere leaped over a diving defender, which brought out the goalkeeper, allowing Ejere to find the back of the net.
 
Sophomore Sydney Varela (El Paso, Texas) scored a brace, the first multi-goal game of her career, hitting the back of the net in the 33rd and 89th minutes. She now has three goals on the season. Senior Tori Permillion (Plano, Texas) recorded her first assist of the season on Varela's game-winner.
 
The Rattlers' defense held the Patriots (2-2-2) to just one shot on goal and they had as many shots on goal (11) as UTT had total shots in the contest.
 
St. Mary's heads to Lubbock Christian on Saturday for a rematch of the first round of the 2022 Lone Star Conference Tournament. The Lady Chaps opened the 2023 conference season with a 2-0 win at Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday evening.