SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State soccer team opens the Lone Star Conference Championship at noon on Thursday against Texas Woman's at The Pitch in Canyon.

The Rambelles (10-7-1, 8-5-1 LSC) are seeded third in the tournament and are making their third consecutive trip to the postseason. ASU, which led the conference with seven shutouts this season, has won five of its last seven games played entering the tournament and are coming off a 1-0 overtime win at second-seeded Incarnate Word last Friday. TWU (8-9-1, 6-7-1 LSC) is the tournaments sixth seed and ended the regular season with a 1-0 win over Texas A&M-Commerce.

“Our mindset is that we have as good a chance to win the tournament as anyone,” ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. “We have a very good team and have been playing really well. I really like our team and how we are playing and feel confident that we are going to go up there to fight for a championship.”

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ASU is 1-1 this season against TWU after dropping a 1-2 decision in Denton on Sept. 23 before earning a 1-0 win over the Pioneers in San Angelo on Oct. 5. Caitlyn Conaway scored the game-winning goal for the Rambelles in their victory, while Danielle Edwards had five saves. Teegan Courtney scored ASU's goal in the loss.

Lauren Bateman leads Angelo State this season with five goals in her freshman year, while Maggie Schaffer has added four goals that follow six in her sophomore season. Kayla Gregory, Hanna Horeis, Katie Squires and Sierra Anderson each have two goals for ASU. Senior Lauren Carnes, an Amarillo native, will go into the tournament with a team-leading six assists while Edwards has 71 saves and seven shutouts in goal.

“I really like seeing that we are getting contributions from a number of different players,” said McCorkle, who has led the Rambelles to four 10-plus win seasons in his five seasons at ASU and enters the tournament with 49 wins as the team's head coach. “We are not a team that is counting on just one player every game.”

Defense has been ASU's strength all season and is the area of the game which could lead them to a championship. The Rambelles led the conference this season with a 0.94 goals allowed per game average to go along with their seven shutouts. ASU gave up more than two goals only twice all season and held opponents to a 0.089 shot percentage.  Edward finished the regular season with the conference's best save percentage at .812.

“Our defending has been great all year and that has to continue here in the conference tournament,” McCorkle said. “We are keeping ourselves in every game that we play because our defending has been so strong. They are fighting for every possession and that is always important and could be the difference in the postseason.”

Texas Woman's will test the ASU defense and comes into the tournament having led the conference in shots this season with 13.89 per game. TWU scored at a 1.39 goals per game rate and was third in almost every LSC offensive category. Brittany Martin lead the Pioneers with 10 goals this season and is second in the conference behind WT's Leslie Briggs who finished the regular season with 16. Katy Black led TWU with five assists with goalkeeper Lindsey Sisco making 54 saves (3.18 per game).  

“We want to bring our best game and attack,” McCorkle said. “We are a great defensive team but will also be out there attacking to get goals. We want to be that team that earns that opportunity to advance.

“They like to press and will play a 3-4-3 or a 4-3-3. They may shift some, but there won't be too many surprises with them. They are aggressive and are going to be direct in their approach to the game. They have a dangerous forward in Brittany Martin who can create opportunities for their team.”

Angelo State would play Incarnate Word at 5 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals with a win over Texas Woman's. ASU and UIW split their season series this year. Midwestern State and Abilene Christian play each other in Thursday's other quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m. with the winner to face regular-season champion West Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Thursday, Nov. 1 Game Time Match-Up Links 1 Noon #3 Angelo State vs. #6 Texas Woman's Video | Live Stats | Box Score | Recap 2 2:30 p.m. #4 Midwestern State vs. #5 Abilene Christian Video | Live Stats | Box Score | Recap Friday, Nov. 2 3 5 p.m. #2 Incarnate Word vs. Game 1 Winner Video | Live Stats | Box Score | Recap 4 7:30 p.m. #1 West Texas A&M vs. Game 2 Winner Video | Live Stats | Box Score | Recap Sunday, Nov. 4 Championship 1 p.m. Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner Video | Live Stats | Box Score | Recap