SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Men's Soccer team scored three goals in the first 11 minutes on Wednesday night against UT Tyler and never looked back, winning 3-1 to remain undefeated in Lone Star Conference action.
The 25th-ranked Rattlers improve to 8-2-2 on the year and 4-0 in Lone Star Conference play, while the Patriots drop to 2-5-4 overall and 0-2-3 in league action.
St. Mary's was dominant from the opening kick, outshooting the Patriots 17-to-6 in the game and capitalized by scoring its earliest game of the year, only 3:27 into the game. Senior defender
Andrick Ferrer (Buffalo, N.Y.) drove down the right sideline and passed into the middle of the pitch to sophomore
Gael Gallegos (Laredo, Texas), who quick-flicked the ball to junior
Calum Murdoch (Christchurch, New Zealand) for the score. It is Murdoch's second goal of the season and the first since Sept. 19.
On a cross into the box in the eighth minute, a UT Tyler defender attempted to clear the ball away from Gallegos, but unfortunately, the ball found the net for an own goal.
Less than three minutes later, Gallegos found junior
Adam Aboohamidi (Wolfforth, Texas) on the left side of the box for the 3-0 lead. It is also Aboohamidi's second goal of the season, as he scored the team's first goal on Oct. 2 against Lubbock Christian.
The Patriots scored in the 17th minute to bring the score to 3-1, and neither team was able to score in the remaining 73 minutes. Junior goalkeeper
Johnny Thurbin (Lingfield, Surrey, England), the defending LSC Keeper of the Week, made one save in the second half.
Prior to the start of the contest, Head Coach
Johnny Clifford was presented with a ceremonial soccer ball for breaking the school record for wins by Executive Director of Athletics Robert Coleman. With the victory on Wednesday, Clifford now has 72 wins in his seventh season with the club.
The Rattlers take to the road, playing at Texas A&M International on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Dustdevils lost a 1-0 decision at St. Edward's on Wednesday evening.
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