Battle of the Saints Men's Soccer Edition Happens Saturday

This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Saturday, Oct. 4 • St. Mary's (1-2-6, 0-1-1) at St. Edward's (3-4-2, 1-1-0) • 7 p.m.
 

Battle of the Saints: St. Mary's Men's Soccer takes its turn in the Battle of the Saints on Saturday in Austin against rival, St. Edward's at 7 p.m. The Rattlers hold a 1-0 early lead in the yearly competition between the two schools with Women's Soccer's win at SEU. The winner of the Battle of the Saints earns one point toward a cumulative total and bragging rights. Last year, the Rattlers won 5.5-to-2.5, and won 4-3 in 2023-24. A draw between the two teams on the pitch would count 0.5 points to each school.

Last Week: St. Mary's started Lone Star Conference play with a scoreless draw at Lubbock Christian on Wednesday before falling 1-0 on a penalty kick to Sul Ross State on Saturday evening. 

Against St Edward's: The Hilltoppers hold a commanding 48-23-9 lead in the all-time series that started in 1985. The Rattlers are 4-0-2 since the teams joined the Lone Star Conference, however, and are looking for their second-straight victory over St. Edward's, after winning 2-1 in 2024. SEU owns a 25-8-4 lead in games played in Austin.

Scouting the Hilltoppers: St. Edward's has used two goalkeepers this season, with Angel Ramirez starting five games and Kaleo Perez-Francis starting the other four. The two have allowed 17 goals (1.89 GAA) and made 29 saves (63% save percentage), and Ramirez has the lone shutout. Offensively, Filip Adamski leads the way with four goals and eight points, while both Christian Mezas and Shunji Watanabe are tied with seven points (3 goals, 1 assist). SEU is 3-4-2 on the year and 1-1-1 in conference play after a 2-2 draw at Sul Ross State on Wednesday.

Leading the Way: Senior goalkeeper Johnny Thurbin leads the Lone Star Conference in minutes played (810), goals against average (0.889), save percentage (.771) and shutouts (3). Thurbin is the defending Lone Star Goalkeeper of the Year and was named the Preseason Keeper by the league's coaches, SID's and media. 

Art Majors: St. Mary's is getting good at drawing, and has already tied the St. Mary's single season record for draws in a season with the 2022 and 2023 teams that went 12-2-6 and 8-5-6, respectively. 

Scoring Breakdown: St. Mary's has done its scoring either really early, or really late in games this season, with two goals in the first 15 minutes, three in the second grouping of 15 and two in the final 15 minutes of the match. On the flip side,  half of the opponents goals have been scored between the 61st and 75th minutes.

Minute    StMU    Opponent
1st-15th    2    1
16th-30th    3    2
31st-45th    -    1
46th-60th    -    -
61st-75th    -    4
76th-90th    2    -

Playing Clean: St. Mary's currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 11th in the nation in fewest fouls per game, averaging 8.44 per game. Roberts Wesleyan leads Division II getting whistled for only 7.10 fouls a night, while UT Tyler leads the league with 8.00 per contest.

Flying the Coop: Graduate student Cooper Stephens, who is in his sixth season with the Rattlers, has played in 53 games throughout his career, starting in 30, but Northwest Nazarene was the first time that he played the entire 90 minutes. Stephens is averaging 65.29 minutes per game this season, the highest average of his career. A season ago, he played 59.79 minutes per contest.

Fixture: Senior defender/midfielder Andrick Ferrer has played in 64 games throughout his career with the Rattlers, ranking 24th among DII active career players. Ferrer has six goals and 10 assists for 22 points in his career.

Towards the Top: Senior Johnny Thurbin ranks fourth among Division II active players in career save percentage (.792) and ranks 28th overall, regardless of division. Thurbin also ranks 6th in goals against average (0.852), fifth in solo shutouts (14), 25th in career minutes (3167.95), 36th in saves (114), and 48th in saves per game (3.08) in the DII ranks. 

Tough Defense: Both seniors Luke Mulkey and Johnny Thurbin were named Lone Star Conference Players of the Week after the first week of the season. Mulkey helped lock down the two nationally-ranked squads in Colorado State-Pueblo and UCCS, while Thurbin made seven saves in goal.

Picked Second: After winning the regular season and advancing to the finals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament in 2024, the voters have predicted St. Mary's to finish second in the 2025 campaign. Midwestern State, the four-time defending tournament champions, is the top point-getter in the 11-team poll with 16 of the 33 first-place votes and 338 points. The Rattlers garnered 13 first-place nods and 331 points.

Preseason Players of the Year: St. Mary's seniors Luke Mulkey and Johnny Thurbin were named the LSC Preseason Defender and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively. The pair earned the identical postseason awards at the conclusion of 2024. Both played every minute of every contest a season ago, holding opponents to 0.79 goals per game.

Returning All-Conference: The Rattlers return seven student-athletes who were named to the Lone Star All-Conference teams in 2024. Defender Luke Mulkey and Johnny Thurbin were named to the First Team, as well as Defensive and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively. Seniors Andrick Ferrer and Pau Mateu Deya and junior Gael Gallegos were honored on the Second Team and senior Cooper Stephens was tabbed to the Third Team.