Women's Soccer Squares Off With Pair of LSC Opponents

Wednesday, September 27 • Austin • Lewis-Chen Family Field
*St. Mary's (3-1-4, 2-0-0) at St. Edward's (2-2-1, 1-1-0) • 4 p.m. 

Saturday, September 30 • San Antonio • Sigma Beta Chi Field
*Midwestern State (4-2-2, 1-1-0) at St. Mary's • 1 p.m. 

Coming Up: St. Mary's continues Lone Star Conference play with the annual Battle of the Saints match on Wednesday in Austin before hosting Midwestern State on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Rattlers are currently 2-0 in league action for first place in the standings.

Series History: The Rattlers are looking to snap a seven-match losing skid to St. Edward's and post the first outright win since 2010. All-time, StMU is 22-39-6 against the Hilltoppers with a 6-25-4 record in Austin. Midwestern State holds a slight 7-6-2 edge in the all-time series with the Rattlers and neither team has won more than two straight since the teams began playing in 1995. Since joining the Lone Star, the Rattlers are 2-1 against the Mustangs and are 2-3-2 all-time in Wichita Falls.

Back In the Win Column: After setting a new school record with four-straight draws, the Rattlers opened the Lone Star Conference season with a pair of victories, winning 3-1 against UT Tyler and 2-1 at Lubbock Christian last week. 

Making A Jump: The Rattlers climbed from 10th in the United Soccer Coaches South Central Region poll to 7th this week. StMU is the second-highest ranked team in the Lone Star Conference, while the other five all come from the RMAC. DBU is 2nd with a 4-0-1 record.

Brace For Impact: Sophomore Sydney Varela became the second Rattler this season to register a brace, scoring two of the team's three goals in the win over UT Tyler. She joins sophomore Shelby Paniagua, who scored a pair in the 5-0 season-opening victory against East Central.

Second Half Push: The Rattlers have been more aggressive in the second half of matches this season, taking 75 shots compared to 46 in the first half. The Gold and Blue have also out-shot the opposition 75-to-54 in the second half. Scoring is almost even between the two periods, with seven goals in the first 45 minutes and eight after the break.

Back-to-Back: For the second-straight week, St. Mary's has been awarded the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week award with senior Juni Ejere being honored. Ejere scored one goal in each of the two victories for the Rattlers last week, helping the Rattlers to a 2-0 start for only the second time in Lone Star Conference history. Sophomore Shelby Paniagua won the award in week four after scoring a goal in each contest for a pair of draws.

Holding the Line: Senior Jackie Miller has played all 90 minutes in each of the last seven matches and 711 of the possible 720 minutes this season. In two-plus seasons, Miller has played 3,909 minutes for the Rattlers, anchoring the defense since 2021. Throughout her career (two seasons at UTEP), Miller has been on the pitch for 6,217 minutes.