Seniors Help Lift Women's Soccer to 3-0 Win in Laredo

LAREDO, Texas — The St. Mary's University Women's Soccer team stayed in the hunt for a Lone Star Conference Tournament berth with a 3-0 victory at Texas A&M International on Tuesday evening.

The teams not only battled each other but extremely windy conditions in Laredo as the regular season winds down. The win improves the Rattlers to 7-5-3 on the year and 5-3-2 in LSC play, while the Dustdevils fall to 3-7-6 overall and 2-5-4 in league action.

Senior forward Alexis Truitt (Boerne, Texas) became the fifth Rattler to score a brace this season, netting the second and third goals of the night. Fellow senior Nayeli Celedon (Del Rio, Texas) hit the game-winner in the 56th minute.

Senior goalkeeper Melida Garza (New Braunfels, Texas) started in goal for the first time this season and the second time in her career, recording her second clean sheet with two saves.

Freshman Alysia Cano (Wylie, Texas) took a free kick from approximately 40 yards out that was cleared back to the center circle by a Dustdevil, right to Celedon, who took advantage of the high winds and lofted the ball over the goalkeeper's head in the 56th minute. It is the first goal of the season for Celedon and the second of her career (Sept. 4, 2022 vs. Fort Lewis).

Twenty minutes later, the Rattlers stole a TAMIU throw-in from midfield, and sophomore Malia Dominguez passed to Truitt, who beat her defender and shot past the diving goalkeeper into the bottom center of the net for the 2-0 lead. It is the second assist of the year for Dominguez.

On a free kick between the penalty box and the touchline in the 88th minute, junior Shelby Paniagua (Cibolo, Texas) placed a perfect ball for Truitt on the opposite side of the box to head in for the second brace of her career, matching the two goals she scored in the LSC Quarterfinal win over Angelo State last season. The assist for Paniagua moves her into a tie for the lead league with six.

The Rattlers outshot the Dustdevils 19-to-6 in the game and put 11 of those 19 shots on goal. StMU also took six corners on the night, compared to only two for TAMIU.

The win puts the Rattlers into a three-way tie for sixth place in the Lone Star standings with Midwestern State and Lubbock Christian – two teams StMU tied with earlier in the year. 

St. Mary's has three matches remaining on the regular season schedule, hosting Oklahoma Christian on Friday for Senior Night at 6 p.m. and DBU for Alumni Night on Monday at 5:30 p.m. The Rattlers close out the campaign at UT Permian Basin on Nov. 7. Oklahoma Christian won 8-1 over Eastern New Mexico, while DBU defeated St. Edward's 3-1 earlier on Tuesday evening.