LAREDO, Texas — A pair of first goals lifted the St. Mary's University Men's Soccer team to its fifth-straight win at Texas A&M International on Saturday night, 2-0.
Fifth-year senior Sofian Marghouz (London, England) kicked a beauty over the head of the goalkeeper in a one-on-one battle on a pass from senior defender
Lewis Nohar (Cumnock, Scotland) in the 40th minute. Marghouz is usually on the other end, as he leads the Rattlers (9-2-2, 5-0-0) this year in assists with four.
In the 83rd minute, the Gold and Blue added an insurance goal as junior keeper
Johnny Thurbin (Lingfield, Surrey, England) lobbed a free kick 2/3 of the length of the field to junior
Enzo Jaques (Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil) for his first goal as a Rattler. It is also the first assist of Thurbin's career, and the first for a Rattlers' goalkeeper since Sept. 17, 2018, when Gerard Roebuck had one against St. Edward's.
"Tonight was a good fight," said Head Coach
Johnny Clifford. "TAMIU made it really difficult for us and defended deep in a low block for long periods. They caused us a lot of problems in transitions, and we got a little fortunate not to concede in the second half. This is a great three points, and back to San Antonio."
The Rattlers put the pressure on the Dustdevils (2-8-2, 0-5-1) defense early, blasting 11 shots in the first period with five shots on goal. They ended the night with eight shots on goal in 16 total shots.
On the flip side, the defense allowed only one shot on goal throughout the 90 minutes, though TAMIU did take 11 shots, with nine coming in the second half.
St. Mary's returns home to host Sul Ross State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Lobos dropped a 2-0 decision to Midwestern State earlier on Saturday.
