This Week in Rattlers Soccer
Wednesday, Sept. 9 • Sul Ross State (0-3) at St. Mary's (1-2) • 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 12 • St. Mary's at #9 Rogers State (3-0-1) • 5 p.m.
Week Three: The St. Mary's Men's Soccer team wraps up a four-game homestand to start the season with Sul Ross State on Wednesday in a non-conference game before heading out on the road to face No. 9 Rogers State in Claremore on Saturday.
TAMUSA Recap: The Rattlers got their first win of the season with a 3-1 decision over Texas A&M-San Antonio on Saturday. Sebastian Poblete, Eduardo Fernandez and Lewis Boney each scored a goal, with Jeth Flores, Sean Borland and Dyllan Mendoza each collecting an assist. Fernandez kicked the game winner in the 44th minute on a rebound off a saved shot by Borland.
History with Sul Ross State: Wednesday will be the third meeting in history between StMU and SRS with each team winning once. This is the third-straight meeting that will take place at Sigma Beta Chi Field.
Scouting the Lobos: Sul Ross State is searching for its first win of the season, entering the game with an 0-3 record. The Lobos also lost to UCCS (8-0) and Colorado State Pueblo (2-0) in San Antonio and fell 1-0 at Texas A&M International in a non-conference game last Saturday.
History with Rogers State: The Rattlers are 2-3-2 all-time against Rogers State, including a 1-1 tie last season in a game played at Midwestern State. The series dates back to 2013 when both teams were members of the Heartland Conference.
Scouting the Hillcats: Rogers State has scored 11 times through its first four games and is ranked ninth in the United Soccer Coaches poll with a 3-0-1 record. Harkaran Sahota leads the team with two goals and two assists (six points), while Tristan Miller has made 14 saves in goal with a 77.8 save percentage.
Full Strength: Four of the five goals this season for the opponents have been scored with the Rattlers down a man. Only Colorado State Pueblo scored a goal with all 11 on the pitch for St. Mary's.
Shot Distribution: In the first three games, St. Mary's took 32 shots by 15 different players. Sophomore Sebastian Poblete leads the club with six shots, and he and Eduardo Fernandez each have three shots on goal, with a goal each.
Cresto Success: Assistant Coach Deni Cresto served as the acting head coach on Saturday 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).
Half Dozen: Freshman goalkeeper Nichita Misac has made six saves in each of the last two games and is up to a 77.8 save percentage. The native of Lisbon, Portugal has 14 total saves and has been in goal for 256:14 of the team's 270 minutes this season.
Set Pieces: St. Mary's enters the week ranked third in the Lone Star Conference and 22nd in the nation with 6.33 corner kicks per game. Defending national champion Midwestern State leads the league with 7.50 per contest.
Multi Scores: Head Coach Johnny Clifford has 80 wins in his career, and in 42 of those victories (52.5 percent) the Rattlers have scored three or more goals, including last Saturday against Texas A&M-San Antonio.
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.
Art Majors: The St. Mary's 2025 team tied the school's single season record for draws in a season with the 2022 and 2023 teams that went 12-2-6 and 8-5-6, respectively.
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.
