LAWTON, Okla. – After a quiet first half, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Lone Star Conference Men's Soccer Tournament erupted for five goals, with four coming in a 10-minute stretch as St. Mary's University knocked off Oklahoma Christian University, 3-2 on Wednesday night.
The Rattlers advance to the championship game, where they will take on top-seeded and defending national champions Midwestern State in Wichita Falls on Saturday. The Mustangs reached the finals via a 1-1 (4-3 PK) decision over UT Dallas.
"It feels great to win," said assistant coach
Deni Cresto. "Obviously, this was a massive game for us and we knew that coming into the game and I'm just very happy that we were able to apply the game plan. I think the guys were disciplined and knew what to do and they stuck to it. It just shows that when guys have the right mentality that this group has they can do impossible things."
St. Mary's (12-5-2) came out aggressive to start the game, getting a shot on frame in the first minute, and outshooting the Eagles (10-4-4) 8-to-3 in the first half, but neither team netted a goal.
In the 47th minute, the Eagles were whistled for a handball in their own box, giving the Rattlers a penalty kick. After review, the call held and
Ryan Guillaume (Trelex, Vaud, Switzerland) made the PK for the 1-0 advantage.
The Eagles knotted the score at 1-1 in the 80th minute when their leading scorer Kenzo Shabazz-Edwards took a pass by Alejandro Gomez and found the right side of the net.
Guillaume picked up a loose ball in the box and quickly flicked it to
Sean Borland (Glasgow, Scotland) who tapped it in on an empty net as Dante Caffard had come out on Guillaume for the 2-1 lead in the 82nd minute.
Just over two minutes later
AJ Valdivia (Perris, Calif.) fed Guillaume in the box, who found
Mekhi Carwise (Nolanville, Texas) on the left side into the bottom center of the net for the 3-1 advantage.
The flurry of scoring continued as Tyler Ackah-Wheatcroft scored in the 87th minute to bring the Eagles within one, 3-2.
Once again, freshman goalkeeper
Nichita Misac (Lisbon, Portugal) made a save in the waning seconds to preserve a win in the conference tournament, as he did the same in the quarterfinals to secure the 1-0 victory over DBU on Saturday. Misac made three saves in the contest, while Caffaro made four. The two keepers were named the Freshman and Newcomer of the Year in the Lone Star on Tuesday.
StMU outshot the Eagles 16-to-10 in the game and had one more corner, 5-to-4. The three goals allowed tied for the most given up by the Eagles this season and were the most by a Lone Star opponent in 2026.
The Rattlers will be playing for the LSC Championship for the third time, and this will be the third time they've squared off with the Mustangs. MSU won 1-0 in 2019 and 2-1 in 2024. Game time for the championship will be 7 p.m. on Saturday.
