This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Thursday, Oct. 2 • St. Mary's (2-4-1, 1-3) at West Texas A&M (4-2-1, 1-2) • 6 p.m.Â
Saturday, Oct. 4 • Oklahoma Christian (4-2-1, 2-1) at St. Mary's • 1 p.m.
Conference Week Three: St. Mary's begins the third week of Lone Star Conference play at West Texas A&M on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Buffaloes are attempting to break the school record for attendance and will play the match at the Happy State Bank Stadium. On Saturday, the Rattlers host Oklahoma Christian at 1 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men's team.
Skid Snapped: Freshman Marily Garza Contreras took a corner kick from Shelby Paniagua in the 55th minute at St. Edward's on Saturday night, snapping a stretch of over 256 minutes without scoring for the Rattlers. It also lifted StMU to its first win in Lone Star Conference play in 2025.
Finding the Net: Half of the team's goals in 2025 have been scored by newcomers to the team as Marily Garza Contreras, Elena Kossler, Aryana Martinez and Layla Rangel each have one goal. Returners Malia Dominguez and Shelby Paniagua account for the other four goals, scoring a pair each.
Busy Bees: The Rattlers goalkeepers rank second in the Lone Star Conference, averaging 4.57 saves per game. Eastern New Mexico leads the way with 7.67 saves a contest. Senior Haley Faucette is making 4.14 of those saves per game, while Quetza Garza has made three saves in three games (89 minutes) as a redshirt freshman.
Scouting WT: The Lady Buffs are 4-2-1 overall and 1-2 in Lone Star play, winning 2-0 against Sul Ross State in their last outing. Aaliyah McPeak leads WT with eight points (3 goals, 2 assists), while four others players have four points. Franciezca Blancaflor has been in goal for 540 of the team's 630 minutes, making 25 saves and allowing seven goals, while Nadia Reyna has one save. Both WT and StMU have played Texas Woman's and St. Edward's this season, with WT dropping both games, and StMU splitting.
History With the Lady Buffs: West Texas A&M holds an 11-3-4 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1996. The Rattlers are 1-6-2 in games played in Canyon, with the first win coming a season ago (2-0). Prior to taking over as the Head Coach at St. Mary's, Kevin Driggs was an assistant for the Lady Buffs for five years. Senior keeper Nadia Reyna hails from San Antonio, going to Medina Valley HS, while senior defender Jordan Bearden prepped at nearby Brennan HS.
Scouting OC: The Eagles are also 4-2-1 on the season, and are 2-1 in Lone Star play after falling 2-0 to Angelo State on Saturday. OC and StMU are both 2-0 against East Central and St. Edward's as common opponents in 2025. Caid Jefferson leads the Eagles with nine points (3 goals, 3 assists), while Zoe Ross is right behind her with eight (3 goals, 2 assists). Breanna Wooten has been in goal all 630 minutes of the season, making 22 saves and surrendering eight goals.
History With the Eagles: St. Mary's has a commanding 13-3-1 lead in the all-time series with Oklahoma Christian that started back in 1994. StMU is unbeaten in its last seven meetings with the Eagles (6-0-1) and has won the previous three meetings, including a 3-2 thriller in San Antonio a season ago.Â
Lethal From 12: Senior Shelby Paniagua added another penalty kick to her total at UT Dallas, making her 10-for-11 in her career, and 7-for-7 in the last two seasons. Paniagua is one of 10 players in Division II this season with multiple PK's, and she and Kenzi Tufts from DBU are the only two in the Lone Star Conference to make more than one in 2025.
Anchoring the Defense: Senior Valerie Hover has played 608 of the team's 630 minutes this season. She played all 90 minutes four times, including at St. Edward's. The only other Rattlers with 500 or more minutes this season are GK Haley Faucette (541), Marily Garza Contreras (539), Elena Kossler (591), Shelby Paniagua (580), and Ana Parra (538).
Offensive Explosion: At least once in all six seasons with Kevin Driggs as the head coach, the Rattlers have tallied at least one game during the year with five or more goals, as they defeated East Central 5-1 on Saturday afternoon. The most goals scored during the Driggs era was 12 against Texas Lutheran on March 14, 2021. Saturday was the seventh time an StMU team scored five or more.
Picked Fifth: The Rattlers were voted fifth in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll. Should the prediction hold, the Rattlers will compete in their sixth-straight LSC Tournament. A season ago, StMU placed fifth with a 9-7-3 overall record.
Helping Hand/Foot: Senior Shelby Paniagua is seventh on the NCAA Division II active players list with 22 assists and eighth in assists per game (0.32). She ranks third in St. Mary's career history with those 22 assists, and is tied for eighth with her 21 goals.
Faucette In Goal: Senior goalkeeper Haley Faucette may be in her first season with the Rattlers, but she brings a wealth of Division II experience with her. Faucette currently ranks 40th among Division II keepers with a 1.26 goals against average for her career after playing three seasons at Wingate with 97 saves and a 13-6-5 record for the Bulldogs. She made the 100th save of her career in the season opener at Fort Lewis, saving four shots, and now has 126.
Closing In: Kevin Driggs is moving closer to his 50th win as a head coach, as he won his 48th at St. Edward's on Saturday. When he reaches the milestone, he will become only the third women's soccer coach at St. Mary's to do so and will tie Lance Noble (1996-99) for second on the all-time wins list.
What's Coming Back: The Rattlers return 19 of the 30 goals scored last season, along with 13 of the 18 assists, including a team-leading eight goals and six assists by senior Shelby Paniagua. The team also returns three defenders from last season's squad that allowed 1.42 goals per game, and senior Abigail Wilson, who was part of the 2023 team that surrendered only 1.27 goals a contest.
New Faces: The Rattlers have 20 newcomers to the 2025 team, including 15 freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and one senior transfer. The newcomers outnumber the returners 20-to-14 on the 34-player roster for sixth-year head coach Kevin Driggs.
