November 10, 2002
In the 2002 Heartland Conference Soccer Tournament, Nov. 7-10, the St. Mary’s women’s won their first Heartland Conference championship while the Rattler men were conference runners-up for the second year in a row. In the women’s final the Rattlers defeated arch-rival Incarnate Word 2-1, while the Rattler men lost to UIW 3-1.
St. Mary’s (13-7-1) won the women’s final by taking a one-point lead at halftime and keeping Incarnate Word (11-5-2) scoreless in the second to hold on for 2-1 victory. The Rattlers and Crusaders traded penalty kick goals by St. Mary’s Anglea Molock and UIW’s Jamie Gunthrop before St. Mary’s Venessa Garza scored an unassisted goal with just over three minutes left in the first half to secure a Rattler lead.
In the men’s final, UIW (16-0-3) kept St. Mary’s (12-5-3) from taking any shots on goal. The Rattlers sole score came from a Crusader own goal. UIW’s freshman forward Lubomir Bogdanov got the equalizer on a penalty kick in the 31st minute. The 1-1 tie stood until Bogdanov got an unassisted goal in the 74th minute followed in the 77th minute when sophomore forward Fernando Jorge headed in a corner kick from junior midfielder Ricardo Lara.
In the Women’s semi-finals #2-seed St. Mary’s defeated #3 St. Edward’s 3-0 while Incarnate Word beat #4 Dallas Baptist 3-1. In the Men’s semis #2 St. Mary’s defeated #3 St. Edward’s 3-2 and #1 Incarnate Word beat #4 Dallas Baptist 11-0.