SAN ANTONIO — After conceding an early goal on Wednesday, the St. Mary's University Men's Soccer team buckled down on defense and created multiple chances on offense in a 4-1 win over Lubbock Christian in the Lone Star Conference opener for both teams.
The Rattlers improve to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in LSC play, while the Chaps fall to 3-4-1 on the year and 0-1 in conference action.
The Chaps broke onto the scoreboard first, as Aron DePaula found Joao Catafesta in the eighth minute for the 1-0 lead, but the Rattlers responded three-and-a-half minutes later.
Filipe Bastos (Santa Maria de Faria, Portugal) took a pass from
Jad Basma (Houston) into the box past a defender and placed a perfect cross to the right foot of
Eduardo Fernandez (San Antonio). Fernandez flicked the ball into the lower right corner of the net for the 1-1 tie.
In the 35th minute, the Rattlers stole the ball at midfield, and sophomore
Kai Louviere (Hondo, Texas) crossed the ball to the middle of the box for
Sebastian Poblete (Kendall West, Fla.) but a Chap defender cleared the ball right into the goal for the 2-1 StMU lead.
Sophomore
Dyllan Mendoza (San Antonio) used some fancy footwork in the 81st minute from the top left corner of the box after Louviere lobbed a pass across to him for his first goal of the season and a 3-1 advantage, and senior
Ricky Alvarez (Dripping Springs, Texas) put the game away with a goal in the 87th minute. Alvarez stole the ball in the center circle and passed out to Poblete, who drove to the box and pulled the keeper out, allowing Alvarez to find the lower right corner of the net for the 4-1 tally.
It is the fourth time this season that the Rattlers have scored three or more goals in a game, and StMU has multiple goals in all five victories.
St. Mary's heads to Alpine for the first time in school history, where they will rematch with Sul Ross State on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Lobos had a bye on Wednesday and lost 4-0 at Lubbock Christian on Saturday, Sept. 19, in their last contest. Earlier this season, the Rattlers defeated the Lobos 10-0 in a non-conference match.
