SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Midwestern State's first half opportunities came back to haunt the team as No. 10 St. Mary's was able to put two in during the second half. Though the Mustangs pushed for a response, they were shut down by the Rattlers' defense as the home side found a tough 2-0 victory.

The recent matches between these two teams have been quite interesting over the last two years. The first meeting in 2019 saw the Rattlers overcome with a 2-0 score. They beat the Mustangs again in regular season play later in the season. Once MSU and SMU met in the championship game of the postseason finale, the Mustangs found revenge in their 1-0 conquer.

For the most current match, a mix of interceptions and fouls stopped neither team from getting a shot off until 18 minutes in when Trevor Amann ripped one towards the net, but was saved by Andre Schlaefli. Less than a minute later, Marc-Antoine Huzen made his first save against Youssef Mouaddib's shot.

The closest chance for the Mustangs came in the 27th minute when Amann received a pass from Carlos Flores, turned over his right shoulder and around the defender to hammer the ball off the post. The team was in disbelief at the unlucky shot.

Toi Yamaoka also had a close chance at gaining the lead for the Mustangs. After Amann popped another rocket towards Schlaefli, the keeper dived to make the save and put the ball in the air. St. Mary's defender missed when he tried to clear, leaving Yamaoka with the bouncing ball right outside of the six-yard box. Unfortunately, his strike took a crazy turn and went across the end line for a SMU goal kick.

The rest of the half was decently quiet, but not boring for either team. Each side added one more shot and St. Mary's bench added the first booking before the halftime whistle.

Amann led both squads with four shots and two on goal. Victor Rubio Lopez also added a shot on goal to the Mustangs' three total. Huzen recorded one save and tested with SMU's one corner kick. Schlaefli put up three saves for the home side and faced three corners.

The scripts were flipped for the second half of play when the Rattlers went on the charge and the Msutangs were on their heels. Each team managed one shot before St. Mary's first tally of the night. A foul right outside the top of the box found an optimal free kick spot for SMU. Liam Morrison stepped up and swung the ball up and into the left corner of the goal; far enough to evade Huzen's outstretched hands.

The Rattlers did not let up as Midwestern State struggled to go on an offensive run. Two offside calls did not help the Mustangs' cause. As a result, the home side saw another goal in the scorebook.

This time Max De Leon found Cian Foley across the box, unmarked, for an easy tap in past Huzen. Down by two, MSU had some work to do to force overtime in San Antonio against the current number ten team in NCAA Division II.

The game, already under fire, was more intense as the final whistle grew near. The referee handed out nine yellow cards throughout the second half to both teams for a variety of reasons. The pressure mounting, MSU tried to find the back of the net.

Julian Barajas, the game equalizer in the Mustang's last match against Texas A&M International, put up two shots in the later half to help his team. One soared out left while the other was just high of the target. Amann forced another save from Schlaefli as he tried to slide one in on the ground. Yamaoka registered his second shot of the game in the 89th minute.

Unfortunately, these attempts did not amount and the visitors fell by two. Huzen made one save on seven shots for MSU while the team put five shots up in the second half. They had only four shots on goal for the night, the lowest so far this season.

Tuesday's loss puts the series at 31-3 with Midwestern State steadily ahead of St. Mary's University.

The 3-2-1 Mustangs will bounce back at home against Dallas Baptist, which is their next Lone Star Conference match. The second to last home game will kick-off at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23, at Stang Park.