October 14, 2007
San Antonio – Carolina Hernandez scored on a rebound in overtime to lift St. Mary’s University to a 4-3 win over Texas A&M International University in women’s soccer action Sunday afternoon at St. Mary’s University Soccer Field.
Hernandez (Fr., El Paso) was in the right place at the right time to give the Rattlers the win. Lauren Scalley (Fr., Rhome) sent a corner kick into the penalty area in the 12th minute of the overtime period. Kelly Dowd (Jr., Plano) took a shot that hit off the crossbar and bounced out to Hernandez, who immediately smacked the ball into the back of the net, ending a back-and-forth game.
The Rattlers never trailed in the game, but saw leads of a 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 disappear as the Dustdevils kept pressure on Sarah Linares (So., San Antonio), who was making her first collegiate start in goal. Linares finished with five saves, including a pair of spectacular saves that kept the Rattlers from falling behind.
Amanda McMullan (Jr., Allen) tied things at 1-1 in the 22nd minute when she settled a rebound off Dustdevil goalkeeper Mary Jo Hall and put it in the back of the net for her third goal of the season. Then in the 70th minute McMullan gave the Rattlers a 2-1 lead when she picked up a loose ball in the box and sent it into the upper right corner.
The Dustdevils responded with a goal of their own three minutes later, before the Rattlers retook the lead. McMullan sent a pass from her own penalty area to Christina Mercedes (Fr., San Antonio) past the midfield line. Mercedes dribbled into the penalty area, got past Hall and sent a slow roller towards the goal line. With two defenders racing for the ball, Scally sprinted in and made a sliding kick to put the ball over the line for a 3-2 lead. However, the Dustdevils tied things at 3-3 on a penalty kick, sending the game into overtime.
With the win the Rattlers improved to 7-6-1 overall and 3-2-1 in Heartland Conference play, while TAMIU fell to 2-10-1 and 1-5-1. St. Mary’s will return to action on Thursday when they host the University of Texas of the Permian Basin at 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s Field.