This Week in St. Mary´s University Athletics

SAN ANTONIO—The St. Mary’s University women’s cross country team will head north for the Heartland Conference Championships; the men’s soccer and volleyball teams will also hit the road, while the women’s soccer team will host Newman University this week.

Marcey Morales (Sr., Lytle, Texas) and Ariel Ornales (Fr., Fort Worth) are expected to contend for All-Heartland Conference honors this week at the Heartland Conference Championship Meet, which will be held on the Dallas Baptist University campus. The meet will be held Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. St. Mary’s placed sixth at the meet in 2008.

The Rattler women’s soccer team defeated the University of Texas of the Permian Basin last Thursday in Heartland Conference play. The score was tied 2-2 near the end of the game when Kelly Dowd (Sr., Plano) headed in the ball with just nine minutes left in the game making the score 3-2. The Rattlers had trailed by a 2-0 score at the half, before rallying for the win. The women returned to action Saturday taking on Dallas Baptist University, but fell in a defensive struggle, 1-0. With the loss, the Rattlers saw their two-game win streak end and they now stand at 3-10-1 overall, 3-4-0 in Heartland Conference action. The team will hit the road to face St. Edward’s on Wednesday Oct. 21 in Austin and then return home to close out the week against Newman University on Sunday Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. at St. Mary’s Soccer Field.

The men’s soccer team had a struggle on the road last week. The Rattlers dropped road matches against the University of the Incarnate Word, St. Edward’s and Midwestern State University this past week. With the losses, the Rattlers fell to 4-7-1 overall and 2-4-1 in Heartland Conference play. The Rattlers will continue their road trip this week taking on Newman University on Friday, Oct. 23 and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin Sunday, Oct. 25.

The Rattler volleyball team also had trouble this weekend against UT Permian Basin, who defeated St. Mary’s 25-20, 25-16, 27-25, Friday night at Bill Greehey Arena. The Rattlers fell to Dallas Baptist, 25-17, 25-18, 25-19, on Saturday. With the losses, the volleyball team is now 4-19 overall and 3-6 in Heartland Conference play. The women hit the road this week and take on a vigorous travel schedule facing Newman University Thursday Oct. 22, West Texas A&M Friday Oct. 23 and closing out the week on the road Saturday Oct. 24 when they take on Oklahoma Panhandle State University.