Men's Soccer Faces LSC Opponents In Final Week of Non-Conference Play

This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Wednesday, Sept. 25 • at UT Tyler (2-2-1) • 5 p.m. 
Saturday, Sept. 28 • #19 Midwestern State (3-0-2) • 5 p.m.

Split Weeks Start: For the first time this season, the St. Mary's Men's Soccer team will split a week, traveling to UT Tyler for a contest Wednesday before returning home to host #19 Midwestern State on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 5 p.m. and are non-conference games.

All-Time With UTT: St. Mary's leads 5-2-3 in the series against UT Tyler, which began in 2019 when the two teams joined the Lone Star Conference. The Rattlers are unbeaten in the last five tilts between the teams (2-0-3).

All-Time With MSU: Midwestern State holds a 36-6 record over St. Mary's, dating back to 1977 when the series began. The Rattlers are 4-14 at home against the Mustangs, with two of those four wins coming during the 2022 season. MSU won both meetings last season and were ranked in the top five both times.

It's An Honor: Senior Pau Mateu Deya was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week after scoring the winning goal against Texas A&M International on Saturday and helping the Rattlers defense allow only one goal and four shots on goal in the two games. It is the first weekly award of the season for the Rattlers.

Taking the Shot: The Rattlers lead the Lone Star Conference and rank sixth nationally in shots per game with 17.67 and are first in the league and eighth nationally in corner kicks per game with 7.50. On the flip side, the defense is allowing only 0.67 goals per game, which leads the Lone Star and is 23rd nationally. 

Double G's: Sophomore Gael Gallegos ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in goals per game with 0.67 a contest, ranking behind defending Player of the Year, Mere Escobar from Midwestern State, who is averaging 1.20 goals per contest. 

A Helping Hand (or Foot): Graduate transfer Sofian Maghouz has an assist in each of the last two games and now has 1/3 of the team's assists this season. Maghouz ranks second in the LSC with 0.60 assists per game, trailing only Liam Pritchard from Midwestern State (0.80/game).

Getting the Jump: St. Mary's is 3-0-0 this season when scoring first and 0-1-1 when the opposition finds the back of the net first. The Rattlers are 60-3-4 all-time under Head Coach Johnny Clifford when taking the initial lead.

Stingy Defense: The Rattlers defense has held all six opponents to five shots on goal or fewer this season and limited Academy of Art to one. StMU has allowed only four goals in the six games (0.67/game) and no team has scored more than one.

And The Record Goes To: The 3-1 win over Academy of Art on Thursday saw Head Coach Johnny Clifford become the all-time winningest coach in St. Mary's Men's Soccer history. He now has 67 victories, passing Dave Stolarski (1974-81), who won 65 in his eight years.

It's Been A While: The five points for Gael Gallegos (two goals, one assist) in the season opener are the most for a Rattler since the Second Round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament when Nenad Markovic scored three goals for six points against Western Washington.

International Flavor: The 2024 StMU roster has players from 12 different countries and one territory. In addition to 14 student-athletes from the United States, there are multiple players from England (4), Italy (2) and Scotland (2).