October 20, 2007
San Antonio – Alyssa Valdez and Toni Tullius each scored in the first seven minutes of the game and the St. Mary’s University defense held on from there, lifting the Rattlers to a 2-1 win over Dallas Baptist University in Heartland Conference women’s soccer action Saturday afternoon at St. Mary’s Soccer Field.
Just 2:36 into the contest Amanda McMullan (Jr., Allen) sent a corner kick into the penalty area where Tullius (Sr., El Paso) headed it into the net for a 1-0 Rattler lead. Just four minutes later the Rattlers struck again. Rachel Maldonado (Sr., San Antonio) sent a cross to the middle of the field and Tullius one-touched the ball in for a 2-0 lead just 6:27 into the contest.
At that point it looked as if the game would be a blowout, but would not be the case. Dallas Baptist tightened up its defense and started to push the ball forward more. In the 34th minute that paid off when Mandy Gomez took the ball from Molly Heintz and beat goalkeeper Jamie Talley (Fr., Iowa Park) to the upper right corner, cutting the Rattler lead to 2-1.
In the second half both teams had several chances to score, but the goalkeepers held firm and the score finished at 2-1. Emily Evans made five saves in goal for the Patriots, while Talley had three for the Rattlers. St. Mary’s outshot the Patriots 12-8 in the game.
With the win the Rattlers improved to 8-7-1 overall and 4-3-1 in Heartland play. DBU fell to 3-9-1 and 1-5-1. St. Mary’s will return to action on Sunday, Oct. 28 when they host Newman University at 1 p.m.