SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's University freshman
Sebastian Poblete scored the first goal of his career in the 66th minute, and senior defender
Andrick Ferrer made a great defensive play in the opposite box less than four minutes later to help lift the Men's Soccer team to a 1-0 win over Oklahoma Christian on Friday evening.
"This was a good win for us," said Head Coach
Johnny Clifford. "Very necessary. Our focus this week has been one game at a time. We haven't had the season that we expected, but there's a lot of quality on this team, and that's the first of four very important games for us."
The win moves the Rattlers (3-5-6, 2-4-1) into a tie for fifth place in the Lone Star Conference standings (UT Dallas and Sul Ross State are ineligible for postseason play) with West Texas A&M, with three matches remaining on the regular season docket.
Senior
Pau Mateu Deya (Marratxi, Balearic Islands, Spain) intercepted a ball at midfield and popped it back toward the middle of the Rattlers' offense. Junior
Shea Scally (Glasgow, Scotland) grazed the ball with his head off a defender, bringing the ball down to the ground, where he lobbed a pass forward to Poblete (Kendall West, Fla.) in the box. The ball took a funny bounce, so Poblete leaped with it, kicking the ball in midair into the top left corner of the goal for the 1-0 lead.
"I've been saying to Shea a lot this season that he's got to play more forward passes," Clifford said. "In that moment, he did exactly what we've been asking him to do, he plays a great ball into the box, and Sebastian scored. Sebas is a problem (for teams), he's got so much aggression and so much hunger, and he was disappointed after Wednesday night, but that's exactly how you respond."
With 18:45 remaining in the game, the Eagles (4-8-1, 2-6-0) drove, and Mason Tracy was matched up one-on-one with Ferrer in the box. Ferrer stayed on his hip, and when Tracy went to switch the ball to his left foot, Ferrer pressed in and cleared the ball out of the box before Tracy could get the shot off. The Rattlers defended the ensuing corner and held on for the 1-0 victory. It is the first win at home this season for the Rattlers, who have only played four inside the friendly confines of Sigma Beta Chi (1-2-1) field.
The Rattlers' defense held LSC leading scorer Ethan Nakolo to only one shot, and none on goal, as StMU outshot the Eagles 15-to-14 and had five shots on goal compared to only two for OC.
St. Mary's plays two of its final three at home, beginning with DBU on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the women's team. The Patriots have one more point than the Rattlers in the standings and play at Lubbock Christian on Saturday before visiting San Antonio.
