The eighth-ranked St. Edward’s University women’s soccer team pulled away with a 2-0 victory over St. Mary’s University in the “Battle of the Saints” this past Friday, as well as a 7-0 win over Texas A&M International on Saturday.

The Hilltoppers remain undefeated, and the win over Texas A&M International gives the team their seventh shutout of the season.

In the game against St. Mary’s, junior Crystal Trevino scored the Hilltoppers’ first goal in the 21st minute with an assist from junior Kelly Boyd.

St. Edward’s had other chances to score in the first half, but they didn’t capitalize. The Hilltoppers did, however, outshoot the Rattlers 11-0 in the first half.

“We knew that St. Mary’s was going to be a very physical team, so we went into the game prepared to battle,” junior Kelly Servage said. “We had a very aggressive mindset.”

During the second half of the game, senior Janae Averett added to St. Edward’s lead with a goal in the 52nd minute. Freshman Rachel Murray assisted on the play.

“We wanted to continue our undefeated season and not only win, but show them [St. Mary’s] what it was like to play us here on our home field with our fans supporting us,” Murray said. “We did not have any worries because we go into every game with the same mindset of winning and playing as best we can to get the results we want.”

On Saturday, the Hilltoppers took on the Texas A&M International Dustdevils. Before the game, the eight seniors were honored for their hard work and dedication.

“Because it was our senior game, we all wanted to play the best we could to honor our amazing seniors,” Murray said. “We had more to play for than just a win.”

Murray put St. Edward’s on the board first, when she scored in the 11th minute of play with the help of Servage, who assisted on the play.

Servage followed up her assist with a goal in the 14th minute, her seventh goal of the season. Junior Bethany Bennett was credited with the assist on the play.

One minute later, junior Jordan Ynostrosa had an open scoring opportunity and shot a 10-yard goal to put the Hilltoppers up 3-0. Ynostrosa followed that goal up with another goal off of Trevino’s corner-kick in the 24th minute, inflating the score to 4-0.

Freshman Kelly Davis scored the Hilltoppers’ last goal of the half in the 44th minute, putting St. Edward’s at a five-goal advantage going into halftime.

“We know that Texas A&M International has improved every year and that this year they had their best team yet,” Servage said. “We couldn’t take the game lightly, and we wanted to make sure that we got off to an early start.”

The Hilltoppers held onto their lead throughout the second half, scoring off a penalty kick in the 55th minute and then scoring their final goal of the game in the 77th minute.

St. Edward’s outshot the Dustdevils in the match, 28-1.

The Hilltoppers will host Heartland Conference rival Newman, a team that St. Edward’s lost to last season, on Thursday at 4 p.m.