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Leia Kirch (right) sent the Rattlers to victory. (File Photo: Robin Johnson/St. Mary's Athletics)
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ODESSA, Texas — Nineteen seconds away from going to overtime, St. Mary’s junior Leia Kirch had other ideas Sunday afternoon.

Kirch’s unassisted strike with 19 ticks left capped off the Lady Rattlers’ come–from–behind, 3–2 victory, erasing a 2–0 halftime deficit to give St. Mary’s its largest winning streak of the season at three.

Kirch (Jr., Carrollton, Texas) scored two goals in the game, also netting the tying goal off a Kaitie Kasperitis (Fr., Corpus Christi, Texas) assist on a one–timer in the 60th minute to tie the game at 2–2.

Kasperitis also had a goal of her own, helping the Rattlers (8–5–2, 5–3 in Heartland Conference) to finally get on the board with a one–on–one strike in the 53rd minute.

The goal marked Kasperitis’ team–leading 11th goal of the year, while she also now leads the team in assists with four. Kirch is close behind with seven goals following her pair Sunday.

The game marked the Rattlers’ final home game of the year, as they will return to action again on Thursday, when they host St. Edward’s in the “Battle of the Saints” matchup. The game will kick off at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of the Lake University’s home field.

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.