Women's Soccer Kicks Off Conference Play

This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Wednesday, Sept. 25 • Sul Ross State (2-2-0) at St. Mary's (2-2-1) • 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 28 • St. Mary's at West Texas A&M (3-2-0) • 7 p.m.

Kicking Off Conference Play: The St. Mary's Women's Soccer team begins Lone Star Conference play against the newest team in the league in Sul Ross State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Rattlers finish out the week at West Texas A&M on Saturday evening.

All-Time with SRS: Wednesday will be the first-ever meeting between St. Mary's and Sul Ross State in women's soccer. The teams have had no common opponents in 2024.

All-Time with WT: The Rattlers are 2-11-4 all-time against West Texas A&M, but defeated the Lady Buffs 4-1 last season at Sigma Beta Chi, snapping a 12-game non-winning streak - though there were three ties. Head Coach Kevin Driggs joined the Rattlers from the WT staff, where he was the assistant coach for five seasons.

Ranked Draw: St. Mary's scored in the 77th minute to knot 14th-ranked Colorado Mesa in the team's last game. Junior Shelby Paniagua scored on a 25-yard free kick, looping the ball over the keeper's hands for the 1-1 score. The Mavericks are the first-ranked team the Rattlers have faced in 2024, though UCCS was receiving votes.

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

Everyone's A Winner: All 14 teams in the Lone Star Conference have won at least one game this season as the teams enter the fourth week of action. Three teams remain undefeated in UT Tyler (5-0), Oklahoma Christian (4-0-1) and DBU (3-0-1).

Conference Openers: St. Mary's is 3-2 in the first game of conference play since joining the Lone Star Conference, including a 3-1 victory over UT Tyler a season ago. The Rattlers are 1-1 against Angelo State, 0-1 vs St. Edward's, 1-0 vs UT Permian Basin and 1-0 vs UT Tyler since entering the league in 2019.

Record Watch: Rebecca Difronzo currently sits at 245 career saves, needing 16 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 ninth in the Lone Star Conference. Difronzo already holds the StMU records for shutouts (16) and minutes played (5,646).

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). 

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 301-260-51. 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.

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.