SAN ANTONIO – Facing a former coach can often create a tense situation, putting undue stress on coaches and student-athletes, but for the St. Mary's University Women's Soccer team on Saturday evening it led to them snapping a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) against Mike Erwin's Angelo State team.
Erwin was the associate head coach at St. Mary's the previous six years, and he and
Kevin Driggs have been lifelong friends, but it was no surprise to anyone when Erwin was offered his first head coaching position with the Rambelles (2-8-3, 1-6-2) during the offseason.
The Rattlers (6-6-2, 4-5-1) controlled the game from opening kick, and sophomore
Natalya Hendrus (New Braunfels, Texas) won a ton of the balls in the air, and kept the Rambelles out of their attacking third throughout much of the night, though she has no statistics recorded.
Junior
Isabella Salas (Claremont, Calif.) opened the scoring in the 40th minute, as she took a pass from junior
Kamora Hall (Frisco, Texas) in the box and scored into the lower portion of the net for a 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 until the final minute, when Hall passed the ball into the box and freshman
Helen Lazaro (Garland, Texas) was left unattended to tip the ball into the back of the net with 51 seconds left for the 2-0 final.
It is the second goal of the season for Salas, and the 11th for Lazaro as she ties the freshman single-season scoring record at St. Mary's, knotting Kaitie Kasperitis, who scored 11 in 2011. It is also the first two points of the season for Hall, as she becomes the sixth player this season with multiple assists.
The St. Mary's defense held Angelo State to only three shots on the night, and freshman goalkeeper
Callie Gilliam (Lake Jackson, Texas) saved both shots on goal, while the offense put up 14 total shots, seven in each half, and seven total were on goal. It is also the first shutout of Gilliam's career.
Neither team had a corner kick in the first half, but the teams made up for it in the second stanza as the Rattlers took seven, and the Rambelles had one.
St. Mary's travels to Wichita Falls to take on Midwestern State on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The Mustangs are in third place in the LSC standings with an 8-1-1 conference record after defeating Sul Ross State 3-0 on Saturday. MSU and StMU were the only two home teams to win on Saturday, the other five matches were all won by the visiting squad in the LSC.
