WICHITA FALLS, Texas — For the third time this season, the No. 17 St. Mary's University Men's Soccer team drew against a nationally-ranked team, knotting 14th-ranked Rogers State 1-1 on Friday afternoon at Stang Park.
"Once again, a disappointing result for us today," said Head Coach
Johnny Clifford. "Several times this season, we've had long periods when we've been on top of teams and have failed to capitalize. Against good teams, they find a way to hurt you and that's what happened today."
In the 25th minute, senior
Enzo Jaques (Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil) scored the goal for StMU (1-1-3). The Hillcats (4-0-2) attempted to clear the ball out of the box, and graduate student
Cooper Stephens (Richardson, Texas) made a great block. Jaques found the loose ball and sent it back into the top left corner of the net with his left foot to equalize the score less than a minute after RSU scored.
"Enzo scored a great goal to get us back in it," Clifford said. "The bottom line is we need to improve!"
Senior goalkeeper
Johnny Thurbin (Lingfield, Surrey, England) made four saves on the day, including one with 23 seconds remaining in the game to preserve the draw.
The Rattlers took a season-high 20 shots in the contest, including a season-most 12 in the first half, topping the 10 from the second half against Midwestern State on Wednesday evening.
St. Mary's remains on the road, facing Western Oregon on Thursday, Sept. 25 and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday at Toyota Stadium in Frisco.
