Rattlers See Yellow in Defeat

Yellow flags aplenty were shown in Thursday's defeat. (Photo by Antonio Morano Photography)

SAN ANTONIO — Although the Rattlers were sporting their white home jerseys, it was a constant flash of yellow on the field Thursday. And even a little red.

St. Mary’s (0-3-1, 0-1 in conference) roughed an apparently intense green against not-quite-yet Heartland Conference contender Oklahoma Christian University (3-2) Thursday, being witness to a game that banished seven yellow cards and one red card. The Rattlers only received two of these penalties, but the leeway and the ejection of the Eagles’ goalkeeper did not result in victory as they fell in a 2-0 shutout.

It was a clean contest for the first 15 minutes of the game that resulted in an early Eagle goal, with Domenico De Grazia connecting in the bottom-left corner from close range to make it 1-0. The first yellow card was issued 10 minutes later to Oklahoma Christian, only to have the Rattlers match the penalty with a yellow card on Aaron Stares (Sr., Swindon, England) at the 31-minute mark. A penalty kick brought the Eagles their final goal of the game 15 minutes before half, with Eagle Ricardo Chinchilla capitalizing. Chinchilla’s celebration was cut short, however, as he was issued a yellow card less than a minute later followed by one more yellow card on the Eagles one second before halftime.

Already four yellow cards in, the game did not slow down in the second half.

Scrambling to connect for their first win on the season, the Rattlers outshot the Eagles 17-8 with nine shots on goal to the Eagles’ five. Almost equaling the total shots from the Eagles, the yellow cards continued to make appearances in the second half with the Eagles’ head coach claiming the fifth yellow card on the day followed by Rattler Roger Trevino (RS-So., San Antonio) claiming the sixth two minutes later at the 72-minute mark. The final yellow card was issued to the Eagles seven minutes before the game ended and just before the Rattlers cracked a break.

The Eagles’ keeper, Tim Spencer, who had denied the Rattlers a single goal despite several attempts, granted St. Mary’s a free kick after his red card and ejection with only 15 seconds remaining in the game. An ideal scenario for the Rattlers, the Eagles had lost their only keeper in Spencer and had to send position player Sam Guernsey to protect the net. While St. Mary’s amped itself for the luck of a field-player in the net, Guernsey caused an explosion of cheer after blocking Zach Strater’s (So., Carrollton, Texas) free look to keep it a shutout, 2-0, and win their third straight game.

Just as heavy as the yellow cards flew, so did the shots for the Rattlers. Freshman Jack Wolf (Richardson, Texas) led with six shots, with two shot on goal, while Strater had three of his four shots on goal. Armando Macias (Fr., San Antonio) had two shots on goal while upperclassmen Trevino and Andrew Carrasco (Sr., Corpus Christi, Texas) had one look apiece.

St. Mary’s will continue working for its first win Saturday against Newman University at Northside ISD Field at 2:30 p.m.

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