SAN ANTONIO – Needing a win to advance to the Lone Star Conference Tournament, the St. Mary's University Women's Soccer team kept fans on the edge of their seats until the final buzzer against Lubbock Christian on Tuesday night, but the teams ended in a 2-2 draw, giving the Lady Chaps the seventh seed, and the Rattlers on the outside looking in.
LCU (8-5-5, 5-4-5) started the scoring as Journey Curs took a ball that had been popped up into the air by an StMU (7-7-4, 5-6-3) player trying to clear it, and headed it back into the goal in the 16th minute. The score remained 1-0 until the second half when the Rattlers tied it up in the 49th minute.
Sophomore
Marily Garza Contreras (Duncanville, Texas) found freshman
Helen Lazaro (Garland, Texas) streaking into the box, and she made a beautiful cross to junior
Anabelle Rodriguez (San Antonio), who scored for the third time this season to even things up on the scoreboard.
In the 76th minute, the Lady Chaps managed to regain the lead on a tap-in by Logan Holloway on a jump ball that looked to be offsides, but the VAR kept the goal in tact.
Lazaro beat a defender in the box and lobbed the ball up over the LCU keeper in the 84th minute to knot the score at 2-2 and neither team was able to score in the final six minutes for the draw. The goal was the 14th of the season for Lazaro, who ends with the fourth-most goals in a season in St. Mary's history, taking the spot from current senior
Elena Kossler (Otztal-Bahnhof, Austria).
Kossler and
Michelle Ramirez (Helotes, Texas) were honored before the game for their outstanding contributions to the Gold and Blue, as they wrapped up their careers.
