Birthday–Boy Kasperitis Leads Men´s Soccer Charge

Kasperitis had 15 shots fired his way Tuesday. (File Photo: Antonio Morano Photography / www.moranomemories.photoreflect.com)

SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary’s goalkeeper Patrick Kasperitis turned 20 on Tuesday, and the visiting Texas–Permian Basin Falcons came prepared with their version of a birthday gift for the redshirt sophomore.

Peppering Kasperitis with one shot after another, the Falcons nearly matched Kasperitis’ age with 15 shots directed his way.

But when the dust settled, the onslaught beat the best of cakes UTPB could have ever offered.

Escaping unscathed, Kasperitis recorded five saves, including deflecting a pair of headers down the stretch, to help the Rattlers hold onto a critical 1–0 victory over the Falcons at Northside ISD Field.

The decisive goal came just 4:43 into the game, as Rodrigo Ramos (Sr., The Woodlands, Texas) converted a Michael Hasbach (Sr., Colleyville, Texas) pass into a scoring strike on a touch shot from inside the box.

From there, it was all defense for the Rattlers.

“It didn’t seem like that much,” said Kasperitis, a Corpus Christi, Texas native, of the shots fired his way, “but when you run into a team that’s always trying to play long balls, there’s always going to be shots. We dealt with it as best we could.”

Avenging a road loss suffered against UTPB (3–8, 1–2 in Heartland Conference) earlier this season, the Rattlers improved to 3–7 on the season with a 2–3 mark in league competition. Texas A&M International leads the conference with a 3–0 mark.

While St. Mary’s struck early, it was UTPB who got most of the looks from there, outshooting the Rattlers 15–7.

But the volume of shots didn’t matter — not with the birthday boy in the net.

“It was tough when we did lose over there, because we did have the better possession, we did keep the ball better,” Kasperitis said of the loss earlier this year to UTPB. “We were unlucky not to score. Today, we went out and got that early goal and really defended well. We played with heart.”

St. Mary’s University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men’s basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men’s golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men’s golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary’s also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary’s student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.stmarytx.edu/athletics.

    

Coaching Staff

Head Coach Que Willis

Querande "Que" Willis enters the 2012 season as the longest-tenured coach in the history of the St. Mary's men's soccer program, racking up over 50 victories along the way.

In fact, Willis, in his 10th year with the school, needs just eight more victories to become the winningest coach in the program's history. He has guided the Rattlers to a 53-97-6 record over the past nine years.

Willis has helped 34 Rattlers earn all-conference honors since 2003, including five last season -- and 29 since 2006. In addition to the team's on-field successes, Joseph Diaz was honored in 2010 as an ESPN Academic All-District pick.

St. Mary's went 4-12-0 in 2011, upsetting rival on the Rattlers' makeshift home field, the Northside ISD Sports Complex. The Rattlers spent a season without a real home in 2011, and will again do so in 2012 as their home field at St. Mary's is undergoing renovations as part of the new outdoor sports complex.

St. Mary's went 4-13-0 in 2010, again upsetting rival St. Edward's on the road and nearly knocking off nationally ranked Midwestern State in a 2-1 defeat at home.

In 2007, the Rattlers posted their highest win total in six years, going 8-11 overall and finishing third in the Heartland Conference. St. Mary's started the season 4-2 and had a 7-2 record at home. Six Rattlers earned All-Heartland Conference honors that season.

During the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the team played in the Southwest Soccer Conference, one of the top leagues in the nation as it was made up of teams from both the Heartland Conference and Lone Star Conference.

Prior to taking the reins as the Rattlers head coach, Willis served as an assistant coach in the Rattler soccer program for two years. He assisted coaching both the men's and the women's teams.

During those two years, he helped the men's team to a 19-13-4 record, including a 12-5-3 mark in 2002, good for second place in the Heartland Conference standings. They advanced to the Heartland Tournament Championship game both seasons with Willis on the staff.

While assisting the women's soccer team, Willis helped the squad to a 20-13-1 record over two seasons. The Rattlers advanced to the Heartland Conference Tournament in 2002, then won the tournament in 2003, defeating Incarnate Word, 2-1.

As a four-year letterwinner for the Rattler soccer team from 1996-99, Willis earned two All-American awards and two Heart of Texas Conference Most Valuable Player awards. In his freshman season, Willis was named Heart of Texas Newcomer of the Year, paving the way for what would become one of the most dynamic careers in the program's history.

Willis came to San Antonio from Plano East High School in Plano, Texas. In addition to assisting Corwyn Ritch for the three years prior to becoming head coach, Willis has coached numerous club soccer teams in San Antonio and Dallas. He also currently coaches the Dallas Texans Football Club "Blues".

Willis is a 2001 graduate of St. Mary's with a bachelor of arts degree in computer science.

2012 St. Mary's Men's Soccer Roster