Angelo State Rambelles 4-3-1, 2-1-1 Lone Star Conference Leaders Goals: Katie Squires (2), Maggie Schaffer (2) Assists: Lauren Carnes (4) Points: Katie Squires (4), Maggie Schaffer (4), Lauren Carnes (4) Shots: Hanna Horeis (26), Maggie Schaffer (14), Sierra Anderson (12), Ashley Exford (12) Game-winning goals: Katie Squires (2) Saves: Danielle Edwards (23)

SAN ANGELO – Angelo State head soccer coach Travis McCorkle is ready to see the Rambelle offense take more risks.

“We have to do better at gambling and taking chances in order to start getting the results that we are capable of,” McCorkle said. “The question we have every week is how and who is going to score. Each week we are challenging our forwards to get forward and push the offside line. We want them to take the pressure off the team early in the game by getting goals.”

Angelo State (4-3-1, 2-1-1 Lone Star Conference) will need to find more scoring this weekend as it travels to play conference-leading West Texas A&M (5-3-1, 4-1 LSC) on Friday before traveling to Eastern New Mexico (3-6-0, 2-3-0 LSC) on Sunday. ASU is coming off a 2-1 win last Friday at Texas A&M-Commerce and a 1-2 loss to Texas Woman's last Sunday.

The Rambelles have got scoring from seven different players this season with Katie Squires and Maggie Schaffer leading the way with two each, while Lauren Carnes has four assists. ASU is averaging 1.12 goals per game this season and have struggled getting started. ASU has only scored two goals in the first period of games while scoring six in the second half and one in double overtime (2-1 win over New Mexico Highlands). The Rambelles have attempted 42 shots in the first period and 57 in the second.

“We have lacked the ability to put early pressure on teams this season,” McCorkle added. “We have put some pressure but haven't converted those opportunities to goals.”

Getting off to a good start will be crucial on Friday. The Lady Buffs not only lead the conference in the wins-loss column, but also in points (55), goals (20), goals per game (2.22), assists (15), assists per game (1.67), saves (55), corners (51) along with fouls (19).

“West Texas A&M is clearly the top team right now,” McCorkle said. “They have scored a lot of goals and Leslie Briggs is playing great. They are getting the scoring and the results which we all want to get.”

Briggs leads the conference with 11 goals and five assists this season, while Jessie Thomas and Emily Krenek have each added three goals to the WT attack. Lindsay McHorse is just behind Briggs in assists with three with Yvette Bedoy leading the LSC with 49 saves in goal for the Lady Buffs.

While WT leads the LSC in almost every offensive category, the Rambelles are the conference's defensive elite through the first two weeks of conference action. ASU is first in goals allowed with only 10 (1.25 per game) and goals against average at 1.19. ASU has two shutouts this season but is still looking for offensive production to match the defensive effort. The Rambelles beat the Lady Buffs 1-0 last season in Canyon after a 1-1 tie at the ASU Soccer Field.

ENMU comes into the weekend one spot behind ASU in the conference standings and has had some of the same issues the Rambelles have had. The Zias are averaging only .67 goals per game and are allowing 2.00 goals. ASU and ENMU split its series last season and McCorkle knows going into Portales is not going to be an easy task.

“I've heard that they are really good in their possession and they are continuing to win games,” said McCorkle, who coach at ENMU for six years before coming to ASU. “They are a team that is going to work really hard and have some new players on their team that are contributing. There are some unknowns with them but they have beaten some good teams so there's no doubt that we are going to be challenged.”