Women's Soccer Faces Important Weekly Test

This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Wednesday, Oct. 16 • St. Mary's (5-3-3, 3-1-2) at Angelo State (6-1-3, 4-0-1) • 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct 19 • Texas Woman's (5-2-3, 1-1-3) • 1 p.m.

Another Split Week: The St. Mary's Women's Soccer team is unbeaten in its last three games and faces an important split this week, traveling to Angelo State on Wednesday before hosting Texas Woman's on Saturday. The Rambelles have not lost a game in LSC play and are 4-0-1, while the Pioneers have tied three of their five contests so far.

All-Time with Angelo State: The Rambelles and Rattlers are all knotted in the series 12-12-1 that began back in 1996. The two teams met every year from 1996 to 2008 before taking a five-year break and have played in every season since 2013 and the only tie was the very first contest. The Rattlers won both meetings last year to tie the series with a dozen wins each.

All-Time with Texas Woman's: St. Mary's holds a 5-1-3 lead in the series with Texas Woman's. The two teams met every year from 2002 to 2006 and then didn't play again until the Rattlers joined the Lone Star in 2019. Neither team has scored in the last two matches, as both 2022 and 2023 were scoreless draws. In fact, all but one game in the series has been a shutout for at least one of the teams, with the lone exception being a 2-2 draw in 2005. 

On A Roll: Fifth-year senior Alexis Truitt has scored the last two goals for St. Mary's and now has three this season. Truitt kicked the game-winner against St. Edward's in the 49th minute and added the first goal of the game in the 61st minute at Midwestern State on Saturday. She now has nine goals in her StMU career and 12 total, with four of her nine with the Rattlers being game-winners.

Made to be Broken: Senior goalkeeper Rebecca Difronzo made five saves in each of the games last week to become the all-time saves leader in St. Mary's history. Difronzo broke the record of 261 held by Alyssa Taramona (2012-15) and now has 264 to her name. Difronzo also holds the school records for shutouts (19) and minutes played (6107). 

Rising to the Occasion: Junior Shelby Paniagua continues to shine for the Rattlers. She leads the Lone Star Conference in assists per game (0.45), shots on goal per game (1.82), shots per game (4.27) and penalty kicks (3-for-3). She also ranks sixth in the league with 1.18 points per game and with her assist on Saturday at Midwestern State, she is now tied for fourth in St. Mary's history with 19. Paniagua ties Marcey Morales (2005-08) and with one more will tie Amy Hocking (1997-99) for third all-time.

Pin-Point Accuracy: Sophomore forward Malia Dominguez ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 33rd in the nation in shot accuracy at 64.0 percent. The second-year player has accumulated 16 shots on goal in 25 shots this season, scoring a team-leading five goals. 

It's An Honor: Sophomore Malia Dominguez was named the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 1 after helping lift the Rattlers to a sweep in the first week of conference play. Dominguez had six points, scoring three goals in the two victories.

A Variety of Weapons: St. Mary's has scored 20 goals this season and seven different players have at least one. Malia Dominguez leads the team with five, while Natalie Gonzalez and Shelby Paniagua each have four goals. Seven players have at least one assist on the year, led by Paniagua with five.

Among the Active Leaders: Rebecca Difronzo currently ranks fifth among active Division II goalkeepers in career minutes played (6107) and is 12th with her 264 saves. She ranks second in the Lone Star Conference among active keepers in saves, trailing only WT's Reagan Heelan (323).