Women's Soccer Hosts Final Non-Conference Game of Season

This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Thursday, Sept. 19 • #14 Colorado Mesa (2-0-1) at St. Mary's (2-2-0) • 6 p.m. • Doubleheader with the men's team

Fourth-Straight: The St. Mary's Women's Soccer team will face it's fourth-straight opponent from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) on Thursday when it hosts Colorado Mesa. The Mavericks enter the week 2-0-1 and ranked 14th in the United Soccer Coaches poll.

Peat, Repeat: In each of the first two weeks of the year, the Rattlers lost the first game by a 2-0 score and followed it up with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory. Twice this season StMU has scored three or more goals after halftime for a win.

Opponent History: St. Mary's is 1-1 all-time against Colorado Mesa but the two teams have not met on the pitch since 2004. The Rattlers are 1-0 against the Mavericks at home, a 1-0 overtime win on Oct. 8, 2004. 

A Look at CMU: The Mavericks are 2-0-1 on the year and moved up to 14th in the poll this week. Five different players have scored the team's six goals, led by Sarah Dunn with two. Defensively, Keely Wieczorek has made six saves and allowed four goals.

A Variety of Weapons: St. Mary's has scored eight goals this season and six different players have at least one. Both Malia Dominguez and Natalie Gonzalez have two goals each and they've each scored a brace. Five players have at least one assist on the year, led by Shelby Paniagua with two.

No PK For You: Senior GK Rebecca Difronzo saved the only penalty kick she's faced this season, diving for the block against UCCS in the 80th minute. She also saved one in 2022 and is 2-for-4 in PK saves in her career. 

Program Milestone: The improbable 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Westminster marked the 300th victory in the history of St. Mary's Women's Soccer. The program began in 1991 and is now 301-260. It also gave the Rattlers their 48th win at Sigma Beta Chi field, needing two more to hit 50 wins on the field that opened in 2013.

Record Watch: Rebecca Difronzo currently sits at 241 career saves, needing 20 more to tie the St. Mary's career record of 261 held by Alyssa Taramona (2012-15). Difronzo is averaging 4.0 saves per game this season, which ranks seventh in the Lone Star Conference. Difronzo already holds the StMU records for shutouts (16) and minutes played (5,556).

Making A Jump: Junior midfielder Shelby Paniagua moved up two places into seventh on the St. Mary's career assists list with two in the win over Westminster. She now has 16 assists in her career, needing two more to tie for fifth all-time with Kyle Hyslop (2003-06) and Kelly Shaughnessy (1997-99). 

Picked Second: St. Mary's was selected to finish in second place in the annual LSC Preseason poll, trailing favorite DBU, which was picked to win a fifth-straight title. The Rattlers totaled 519 points, behind the 587 for the Patriots.