The women’s soccer team defeated NCAA D2 St. Mary’s University (StMU) 1-0 on Saturday. The Saints start the season 1-0 while the Rattlers drop to 0-1. OLLU wins for the first time on the road against StMU in program history. The Saints tie the Halo Classic series at 3-3.

Head Coach Arthur Salazar commented on the victory saying, “It felt good to be back competing after being out for over a year. The team worked hard and gave us a lot of good looks that we can build on as we move through the season. We were definitely strong, and offensively we created a lot of opportunities. Overall, it was a good team win. All of our active players were able to play and contribute in order to open the season with a win.”

History

The Saints are 2-4-2 against St. Mary’s University.

Basics

The Saints started the match with multiple chances to score in the first five minutes. Rachel Dziuba (FR/Germantown, Md.) and Erika Zapata (JR/Baytown, Texas) tested St. Mary’s goalie early. The first half saw very few fouls and corner kicks and the match was scoreless. Mikaela Gilbert (SR/San Antonio, Texas) started the second half in net after Savannah Hernandez (SR/El Paso, Texas) made two saves during the first frame. Senior Yolanda Vazquez (SR/Los Angeles, Calif.) broke the tie at the 61-minute mark to give the Saints the advantage. Gilbert would go on to make three saves and Nallely Infante (SO/Houston, Texas) took over as goalkeeper for the final 15:28. The Saints won 1-0 and also defeated the Rattlers last season 1-0.

Scoring overview

61′ – OLLU – Yolanda Vazquez

Inside the box score

Leading the way for the Saints’ offense was Kyleigh Spree-Kolos (FR/Victoria, Texas) with six shots and three on goal. Kylie Von Holle led the Rattlers with three shots.

The Saints tallied 18 shots, 11 on goal. StMU recorded six shots, with five on goal.

Deanna Tarango (FR/El Paso, Texas) led the Saints with 82 minutes played.

What’s next

The Saints travel to Brownwood, Texas, to face Howard Payne University on Feb. 3 at 1 p.m.