Women's Soccer Season Ends in Quarterfinals

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The Midwestern State University Women's Soccer team came out extremely aggressive from the first moment in the Lone Star Conference Tournament Quarterfinals against St. Mary's University and will advance to the semifinals with a 3-1 victory over the Rattlers.

"They (MSU) put a lot of pressure on us, and they deserve to win," said Head Coach Kevin Driggs. "They were energetic and played better than us tonight, and sometimes that happens in this game. When you get beat by a better team, sometimes you have to tip your cap, say it's where it's at, and learn from it."

The Mustangs (11-3-5) put seven shots up before scoring in the 34th minute, while the Rattlers (9-7-3) had only two shots in the same span of time. MSU ended the first half up 9-to-2 in the shots category and outshot the Rattlers 18-to-7 for the game.

MSU added goals in the 60th and 79th minutes, but the Rattlers kept attacking, finding the back of the net less than a minute later.

Junior Ana Parra (San Antonio) found a loose ball just outside the box after a free kick by freshman Alyssa Alba (El Paso, Texas) and lasered it into the bottom right corner of the net for her second goal of the season. The Rattlers were unable to add any more, dropping their final game of the season, 3-1.

When asked what his lasting impression of this team would be, Driggs quickly replied, "Resiliency." 

"Six starters are out right now, so we've had that kind of year, but no excuses," Driggs added. "Most teams deal with injuries. I thought we were resilient and did a really good job just to get here. We've had a lot of tough, close games, so I'm proud of that, for sure, and the standard for us is going to be making the NCAA Tournament every year, so at that point, we'll look at it as we've got some growing to do to get back to where we want to be."

After the conclusion of the LSC Tournament, junior defender Valerie Hover (McKinney, Texas) was named to the All-Tournament team.

The Rattlers say goodbye to goalkeepers Rebecca Difronzo (Bari, Italy), who made six saves in her final contest in the Gold and Blue, and Melida Garza (New Braunfels, Texas). Also graduating from the team are seniors Alexis Truitt (Boerne, Texas), Bella Ramirez (El Paso), Natalie Gonzalez (El Paso), Nayeli Celedon (Del Rio, Texas), Jade Hickey (Buda, Texas), Eliza Cerda (Wolfforth, Texas), and Laura Poole (Allen, Texas).