Friday, September 8 • Salt Lake City • Dumke Field
St. Mary's (1-1) vs Hawaii Pacific (1-3) • 8 p.m. CT/7 p.m. MT
Sunday, September 10 • Salt Lake City • Dumke Field
St. Mary's at Westminster (2-1) • 1 p.m. CT/12 p.m. MT
Hitting the Road: St. Mary's will play its first regular season games away from the friendly confines of Sigma Beta Chi Field this week as they travel to Salt Lake City for matches against Hawaii Pacific (Friday at 8 CT) and at Westminster (Sunday at 1 CT).
Series History: This will be the first-ever meetings between St. Mary's and both Hawaii Pacific and Westminster. In fact, it will be the first time the Rattlers have ever played any teams from the state of Hawaii and Utah.
Starting With A Bang: For the second-straight season, the Rattlers put on an offensive show in the season opener. StMU outscored East Central 5-0 this year after beginning 2022 with a 4-0 win over Southern Nazarene. Shelby Paniagua scored two goals and tallied an assist, while Kendall Hall, Valerie Hover and Sydney Varela each scored one goal and Juni Ejere, Natalie Gonzalez and Jackie Miller each notched an assist.
Shelby Shines: Sophomore Shelby Paniagua currently ranks ninth in the nation with 1.00 assists per game and her 1.00 goals per game ranks her 27th. Both averages also rank second in the Lone Star Conference. Her six points knot her 2022 output, which she accumulated in 20 matches. The game-winning goal against East Central was also the first of her career.
Preseason Nod: In the extremely competitive 13-team race, the St. Mary's Women's Soccer team has been selected to finish fifth by the Lone Star Conference. The Rattlers received 339 points, while DBU was chosen to repeat as league champs, garnering 504 points and 37 of the 39 first-place votes. Angelo State (457), West Texas A&M (412) and Lubbock Christian (351) round out the top five.
Players to Watch: Seniors Juni Ejere and Jackie Miller and junior Rebecca Difronzo were all named as Preseason Players to Watch in the Lone Star Conference. Ejere is a two-time First-Team All-Lone Star Conference selection at forward, while Miller was named to the Lone Star All-Tournament team a year ago and Difronzo was a Third-Team All-Conference pick in 2022.
In The Record Books: Both Juni Ejere and Rebecca Difronzo enter the season with their names already in the St. Mary's career record book. Ejere ranks ninth in school history with 20 goals and is now tied for 9th with 46 points after adding an assist in the opener. Difronzo is third in goals against average (0.96), fourth in saves (153) and moved to third with 12 shutouts after keeping ECU off the scoreboard.
Super Seniors: The Rattlers have five players who elected to use the fifth season granted by the NCAA during the pandemic. Juni Ejere, Olivia Galvan, Jackie Miller, Tori Permillion and Love' Tovar have all returned for a fifth season, though only Permillion has spent all five with the Rattlers.Â
