This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Wednesday, Sept. 23 • Lubbock Christian (3-3-1) at St. Mary's (4-3-0) • 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 26 • St. Mary's at Sul Ross State (0-6-0) • 2 p.m.
Week Five: The St. Mary's Men's Soccer team opens Lone Star Conference play on Wednesday when it hosts Lubbock Christian at Sigma Beta Chi Field for Alumni Night. The Rattlers then take to the road to rematch with Sul Ross State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Lone Star Openers: This is the fourth-straight year that St. Mary's and Lubbock Christian have met in the first conference game of the season. The Rattlers are 1-0-2 against the Chaps and are 4-1-2 all-time in the Lone Star Conference opener. The team has not lost since the first year in the league, 2019, when they fell 2-0 to Texas A&M International, which was receiving votes in the national poll.
A Look Back: St. Mary's split the week at the GNAC-LSC Midseason Challenge, defeating Saint Martin's 3-1 before falling 2-0 to Northwest Nazarene. Kai Louviere, Sebastian Poblete and Sean Borland each scored a goal for the Rattlers against the Saints, while Louviere added an assist for three points.
History with LCU: Wednesday will be the 15th meeting between StMU and Lubbock Christian. The teams are knotted in the series 6-6-3, though the Rattlers are unbeaten in the last four 2-0-2 contests. The last loss for StMU happened in 2021, a 4-2 setback. The Rattlers are 3-3-2 in the eight games at Sigma Beta Chi.
Scouting the Chaps: Lubbock Christian is 3-3-1 on the year. Eight different players have combined to score the team's 11 goals with Alex Lachevre and Augusto Militao tied for the team lead with six points each. Milo Paci has started all seven games in goal with 26 saves and eight goals allowed (.765 save percentage).
History with SRS: The Rattlers improved to 2-1 all-time against Sul Ross State with a 10-0 win back on Sept. 9. This will be the first time the two teams have ever met in Alpine.
Scouting the Lobos: Sul Ross State is 0-6 on the year and is still searching for its first goal of the season. The Lobos have collected only seven shots on goal in their seven games, and all seven are by different players.
Making the Most: Sophomore Sean Borland has made the most of his time on the pitch in his second season. Borland has scored two goals in four shots and all four shots have been on goal. He is averaging just under 25 minutes per game and has five points.
Shot Distribution: In the first five games, St. Mary's has taken 92 shots by 19 different players. Sophomore Eduardo Fernandez has taken a team-high 11 shots, while Sebastian Poblete and Dyllan Mendoza each have 10 shots, while Fernandez leads the team with nine shots on goal.
1-2 Punch: Head Coach Johnny Clifford made a small switch in the lineup, moving Eduardo Fernandez into the starting role after he earned Lone Star and D2CIDA National Player of the Week honors. Fernandez leads the team with 12 points (5 goals, 2 assists). Sebastian Poblete is now coming off the bench, where he remains a large threat, as he is second on the club with seven points (3 goals, 1 assist).
Conference Award: In addition to Eduardo Fernandez being named Lone Star Offensive Player of the Week, freshman Lewis Boney was named the Defensive Player of the Week. Boney shut out #9 Rogers State in the second half and held Sul Ross State to only one shot. He also added three points against the Lobos with an assist in the 16th minute and a goal in the 21st minute en route to the 10-0 victory.
Freshman Keeper: St. Mary's freshman goalkeeper Nichita Misac currently ranks third in the Lone Star Conference with a .758 save percentage and he is fourth in goals against average (1.17). He is currently one of two freshman keepers to be starting full-time in goal in the Lone Star Conference (Sul Ross State).
Sharing is Caring: St. Mary's leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks seventh in the nation in assists with 2.17 per game. The Rattlers also rank seventh nationally and second in the LSC with 7.14 corner kicks per contest. StMU also ranks 14th nationally with 7.86 points per game despite not scoring in its first two games of the year.
Here's Your Hat: Sophomore Eduardo Fernandez became only the 10th player in St. Mary's history to record at least a hat trick with his three goals against Sul Ross State on Sept. 9. Richard Cassinelli (Sept. 6, 1970) and Marco Garcia (Oct. 13, 1990) share the school record with five goals in a match.
A Rarity: The win at #9 Rogers State was only the fifth win under Johnny Clifford when the Rattlers were trailing at halftime (1-0). St. Mary's is now 5-25-6 in the ninth season with Clifford at the helm. The team is an astounding 50-3-2 when leading at the break and 27-11-20 when entering the locker room tied after 45 minutes.
Multi Scores: Head Coach Johnny Clifford has 83 wins in his career, and in 44 of those victories (53 percent) the Rattlers have scored three or more goals, including the 10-0 win over Sul Ross State, which ties for the fourth-most goals in a game in school history and is the second-highest total since the team joined the NCAA Division II ranks in 2000.
Preseason Poll: With 18 newcomers on the roster, the prognosticators in the Lone Star Conference were unsure of the new look Rattlers and voted the team eighth in the 11-team league preseason poll. Defending national champion Midwestern State was chosen to repeat as champions, receiving 30 of the 33 first-team votes and 351 points. Rival St. Edward's has been selected second with 293 points, while UT Dallas (2 first-place votes, 290 points), Lubbock Christian (1, 241) and UT Tyler (198) round out the top five. The Rattlers garnered 161 points, finishing behind DBU (187) and West Texas A&M (175), and ahead of Oklahoma Christian (133), Sul Ross State (75) and Texas A&M International (74).
What's Returning: The Rattlers return only six of last season's 33 points, with two each coming from Ryan Guillaume and Sebastian Poblete and one each from Matt Espinoza and Axel Villegas. Poblete became the first freshman to score a game-winning goal since 2022, kicking the winner last season against Oklahoma Christian.
Cresto Success: Assistant Coach Deni Cresto served as the acting head coach on Sept. 5 against Texas A&M-San Antonio. He is now 1-0-3 in games where he's served as the acting head coach, as last season he led the team to three draws while Head Coach Johnny Clifford was either suspended (1) or gone for the birth of his daughter (2).
Roster Notes: The Rattlers will merge 12 returners with 18 newcomers to make up the 30-man roster for 2026. There are seven countries represented on the roster with 19 from the United States, two each from England, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, and one from Scotland.
