This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Thursday, Sept. 3 • St. Mary's (1-0-1) at New Mexico Highlands (0-1-1) • 2:30 p.m. • Roosevelt HS
Saturday, Sept. 5 • St. Mary's at Colorado School of Mines (1-1-0) • 3:30 p.m. • Stermole Stadium
Changing Plans: St. Mary's Women's Soccer will now face New Mexico Highlands at 2:30 (CT) in Las Vegas, N.M. on the campus of Roosevelt HS, instead of the initially scheduled 4 p.m. at NMHU. The Rattlers then continue the road trip, closing out non-conference play at Colorado School of Mines on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (CT).
A Look Back: St. Mary's opened the season with a 1-0-1 record, drawing in the season opener against Fort Lewis, 1-1, before defeating Lynn on Saturday, 3-1. Freshman Kamrynn Martinez scored a goal in each game, while junior Anabelle Rodriguez scored a brace in the win over the Fighting Knights. Freshman Helen Lazaro found Rodriguez for two assists, while senior Elena Kossler recorded an assist against the Skyhawks.
History With New Mexico Highlands: The series with the Cowgirls is tied at one match each, with the Rattlers winning the lone game in Las Vegas in 2018, 3-2. NMHU won a neutral site contest at Colorado School of Mines back in 2013.
History With Colorado School of Mines: The Orediggers have won both meetings in the all-time series, winning in Golden in 2013, 2-0 and winning 1-0 in San Antonio in 2014. The Orediggers were ranked inside the top-12 in both contests, and enter this year's game receiving votes in the Sept. 1 IWSOC poll.
League Leaders: Freshman Helen Lazaro is one of three players in the Lone Star Conference with two assists to lead in the early statistics, and she is tied for seventh in DII. Junior Molly Lyons is tied for the league lead and 10th nationally with 180 minutes played, and freshman Kamrynn Martinez leads the Lone Star and is 15th in the nation with 5.50 shots per game.
First Half: St. Mary's has scored three of its four goals this season in the first half, and the fourth nine minutes into the second half. The opposition has scored once in the first half and once in the second half.
Lyons Pride: Junior goalkeeper Molly Lyons currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 23rd in the nation averaging 7.00 saves per game. Lyons saved six in the season opener against Fort Lewis and posted a career-high eight saves against Lynn. The two opponents have combined to take 40 shots with 16 shots on goal.
Season Openers: The Rattlers are now 19-13-4 in season openers over the 36 seasons of Womens' Soccer after posting a 1-1 draw with Fort Lewis. This is the second-straight year the two teams have finished tied in the initial game of the season.
Prognosticators: St. Mary's was voted sixth in the Lone Star Conference Preseason poll by the league's coaches, SIDs and media. The team received one first-place vote and 443 points, narrowly missing out on the top five. Senior Elena Kossler and sophomore Marily Garza Contreras were named offensive and defensive players to watch in the Lone Star, respectively.
The Makeup: Head Coach Kevin Driggs added not only 14 new players to the roster for 2026, but also a new assistant coach in Diego Tapia-Fraites. The Rattlers have 12 athletes returning from last season's club, including 2025 LSC Newcomer and Forward of the Year in Elena Kossler. Kossler was responsible for 32 of the team's 91 points a season ago, while the Rattlers also return points from Marily Garza Contreras (7), Michelle Ramirez (3), Anabelle Rodriguez (3), and Natalya Hendrus (1). Ramirez was named the final LSC Player of the Week in 2025 after scoring the game-winning goal in the regular season finale at Lubbock Christian.
New Keeper: For the second-straight season, the Rattlers will have a new goalkeeper with zero minutes in goal for StMU. The 2026 team has a pair of keepers in junior transfer Molly Lyons (Trevecca Nazarene) and freshman Callie Gilliam. They will replace Haley Faucette, who spent 1483 of the team's 1623 minutes in goal last season. She made 75 saves over 18 games, allowing 1.27 goals per game. It is only the second time since 2008 a team begins the season with zero returning minutes played from the previous year.
Sister Act: For the first time since the 2012 season, the St. Mary's lineup features a pair of sisters on the team in sophomore Alyssah Martinez and freshman Kamrynn Martinez. Alyssah played in 15 games in 2025 as a true freshman and welcomes her younger sister, Kamrynn to the team for 2026. The last pair of sisters to play for the Gold and Blue were Emilie and Leah Snelson, who played together in 2011 and 2012.
First-Ever: Forward Elena Kossler became the first-ever Rattler to win National Player of the Week honors, when she was awarded by D2CIDA on Oct. 28, 2025. Kossler collected 11 points the previous week, tying the school record for goals in a game against Eastern New Mexico and scoring the game-tying goal at UT Tyler. Kossler also earned Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 27.
Making History: Head Coach Kevin Driggs became the third coach in StMU Women's Soccer history to win 50 games in their career with win No. 50 against Oklahoma Christian on October 4. He is second in school history with his 56 victories, trailing only Corwyn Ritch (2001-19), who won 159 matches in his 18 years.
Offensive Explosion: At least once in all six seasons with Kevin Driggs as the head coach, the Rattlers have tallied at least one game during the year with five or more goals, and they did so three times in 2025, defeating East Central 5-1 (Sept. 13), Sul Ross State 6-0 (Oct. 8) and Eastern New Mexico 5-1 (Oct. 26). The most goals scored during the Driggs era was 12 against Texas Lutheran on March 14, 2021. The win over the Greyhounds on Oct. 26 was the ninth time an StMU team scored five or more in the Driggs era.
Small Senior Class: There are only two seniors on the roster for 2026 in forward Elena Kossler and midfielder Michelle Ramirez, and with the new NCAA eligibility rules, both could return for 2027 if wanted. The team also has six juniors, 15 sophomores and 10 freshmen.
