This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Thursday, Sept. 4 • St. Mary's (0-0-0) at Fort Lewis (0-0-0) • 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 6 • St. Mary's at #22 Colorado Mesa (0-0-0) • 12 p.m.
Getting Started: St. Mary's gets season No. 35 started with a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponents. The Rattlers play at Fort Lewis on Thursday evening before facing No. 22 Colorado Mesa at Noon (CT) on Saturday.
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.
Season Opener: St. Mary's is 19-13-2 all-time in season openers, with a 2-3 mark under Head Coach Kevin Driggs. The Rattlers are 1-3 in season openers against teams from the RMAC, including a 2-1 victory at Fort Lewis to open the 2003 campaign. StMU has lost to Colorado Christian, Colorado State-Pueblo and MSU Denver in the other three matches against RMAC foes.
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.
Helping Hand/Foot: Senior Shelby Paniagua enters the 2025 season tied for sixth on the NCAA Division II active players list, averaging 0.33 assists per game. The Cibolo native has 20 assists in her 61 games. She is tied for third in St. Mary's career history with those 20 assists (Amy Hocking, 1997-99), and is also tied for 10th with her 19 goals (Leia Kirch, 2009-12).
Closing In: Kevin Driggs is moving closer to his 50th win as a head coach, as he won his 46th in the 2024 regular season finale at UT Permian Basin. 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.
It's Been A While: For the first time since the 2008 season, the St. Mary's Women's Soccer team does not return a player with any minutes played in goal. Quetza Garza redshirted last season, so she has a season of practice under her belt, but no collegiate game time. Kevin Driggs brought in senior transfer Haley Faucette to help guard the net along with Garza. Faucette made 97 saves in three years at Wingate, going 13-6-5 for the Bulldogs. She was a 2024 SAC Second-Team All-Conference selection after helping Wingate win the regular season.
