SAN ANGELO – The No. 25-ranked Angelo State soccer team travels to play against Midwestern State at 7 p.m. on Friday in Wichita Falls in its final Lone Star Conference game of the season and a rematch between the two teams who played to a scoreless draw earlier this season.

The Rambelles (12-3-1, 5-3-1 LSC) lead the conference standings coming into the final weekend of the regular season and understand their path to a second straight league title. ASU, which has 16 LSC points and one conference game remaining, would claim the LSC outright title with a win over the Mustangs and losses from Texas A&M-Commerce (15 points) against West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico (15) against Texas Woman's on Friday. If the Lions and/or Zias win or tie on Friday, their game against each other in Portales, New Mexico on Sunday will determine the regular-season title and tournament hosting rights which could be in San Angelo, Commerce or Portales next weekend. 

Angelo State comes into the final weekend of play on a two-game winning streak following a 2-1 victory over ENMU last Friday and a 3-0 win over WT last Sunday. The Rambelles are outscoring their opponents 40-10 this season, but are 3-3 away from San Angelo. ASU and MSU (8-4-5, 3-4-2 LSC) played to a scoreless draw back on Sept. 26 at the ASU Soccer Complex.

"They (MSU) are going to be really motivated playing against us on Friday," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "They not only want to beat us, but they are also playing for their conference-tournament lives. They have a lot to play for and will have a lot of energy. The result of the game has a lot of meaning for both teams and whoever plays through that pressure will probably win the game. We have to respond with the right performance."

The Rambelles will finish off their regular season with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday against Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford, Oklahoma. ASU is 7-0 in non-conference games this season, having outscored non-LSC opponents 31-3 this season.
 
RAMBELLE ROSTER REPORT
Angelo State goalkeeper Shantel Wittke comes into this weekend with eight shutouts which is one shy of matching the all-time program record. Wittke has made 55 saves through 1,279 minutes of play and has a 0.70 goals against average in her junior season. She is 10-3-1 in goal for the Rambelles and has a .846 saves percentage. Wittke, who has recorded a shutout in 57 percent of her games this season, leads the LSC with her eight shutouts and is third with her goals against average.

Sierra Anderson was named the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after a two-goal performance last Sunday against West Texas A&M after scoring one goal in the 2-1 win over ENMU last Friday. Anderson, who has 19 career goals in three seasons at ASU, leads the Rambelles with 10 goals this season, including six in conference play. She is currently tied for second in the LSC in goals behind Savannah Henderson who has 12 goals and has equaled TWU's Natalia Diaz who also has 10 goals. A junior from Wichita Falls, Anderson will be playing in her hometown on Friday against MSU. She has three two-goal games this season with two coming against WT and another against St. Mary's. She has also scored goals against A&M-Commerce, UTPB and Fort Lewis College.

Haley Mendel and Tiffany Dang lead the Rambelles with five assists each this season. Mendel, a sophomore from Bastrop, also has seven goals and is second on the team with 19 points this season. She recorded the only hat trick of the season for ASU with three goals against Colorado Mesa earlier this season and she assisted on Anderson's second goal last Sunday against WT. Mendel recorded a two-goal game against Adams State in the season opener and has two assists in conference play. Dang, who is a freshman, had her fifth assist of the season last Friday on Anderson's goal against ENMU and has assisted on four of Anderson's 10 goals this season.

Loni Byers has provided four goals and four assists in her freshman season out of California. She teamed up with Dang for a double-assist last Friday and also assisted on an Anderson goal against A&M-Commerce. Byers has two assists in LSC play this season. Jenny Kotowych has added three goals and three assists this season, while Elizabeth Rodriguez has three goals and an assist. Rodriguez is 2-for-2 on penalty-kick goals this season, including scoring on a PK with 23 seconds remaining last Sunday to cap the 3-0 win over WT.

Cynthia Andrews, Brianne Brown and Ashley Exford each have two goals for the Rambelles this season. Exford, who was named the LSC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, scored her second goal of the season and the third of her career last Friday with a penalty-kick goal against ENMU after a hand-ball call.

The Rambelles have seen 15 players score this season with Dakota Briseno, Brittany Martinez, Dang, Caitlyn Conaway, Callie Smith, Selena Alvarez and Kathleen Keoughan each having one goal each. Keoughan, Brown, Martinez and Andrews each have two assists going into the final weekend of play.  
 
MIDWESTERN STATE MUSTANGS
MSU goalkeeper Courtney Burnette comes into the Mustangs' final regular season game with six shutouts and has recorded 93 saves this season. Offensively, the Mustangs are led by Destinee Williamson who has scored eight goals this season and Nicole Coetzer who has four goals. Callie Briseno has three goals, while Katy Catney has five assists and Williamson has added four assists.

The Mustangs are 4-2-2 at home this season and are coming off a 0-1 loss to Eastern New Mexico. MSU has alternated wins and losses the past three weeks with a 2-1 win over West Texas A&M preceding the loss against the Zias. MSU is currently in fourth place in the LSC standings with 11 points and is only one point ahead of Texas Woman's which plays two games this weekend.
 
REGIONAL RANKINGS
SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State soccer team moved up four spots to second in the NCAA Division II South Central regional rankings which were posted on Wednesday and followed last week's rankings which had the Rambelles in sixth.

ASU is coming off a pair of Lone Star Conference wins last weekend where they earned a 2-1 win over Eastern New Mexico and the a 3-0 win over West Texas A&M at the ASU Soccer Complex. The Rambelles are behind Colorado School of Mines (13-1-2) which leads the regional rankings, while Metro State (12-1-3 is third and Texas A&M-Commerce (10-5-0) is fourth. The regional soccer tournament is a field of six which includes automatic qualifiers coming from the winners of the LSC, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Heartland Conference and then three at-large bids being given out to the top three regional ranked teams in the final poll. ASU last made the tournament in 2010.

"The regional poll tells me that whoever wins at the end of the year is going to advance to regionals," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "In a normal year, you wouldn't see us jump from sixth to second, but that's how it's going right now. Hopefully we understand what's at stake and get the job done this weekend and then have a strong performance in our conference tournament."

NATIONAL RANKINGS
SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State soccer team returned to the national rankings at No. 25 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II poll after earning Lone Star Conference wins over Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M last weekend at the ASU Soccer Complex. The Rambelles are nationally ranked for the sixth time this season and are currently leading the LSC standings coming into the last weekend of the regular season.

"I thought our defenders really stepped up last weekend and played a lot stronger than we had been the past three games," McCorkle said. "The midfielders also played extremely well, especially in the second half against West Texas A&M. It was nice to see our attack be dynamic again and causing problems for the opposition."

The Rambelles who had never been ranked in program history before this season, entered the polls six weeks ago for the first time at No. 14 before rising to No. 11, No. 10 and then peaked at No. 8 before dropping to No. 19 after their first loss of the season at ENMU. The team was unranked last week before reemerging on Tuesday. The Rambelles remain the only LSC team ranked, while No. 8 Metro State (11-1-2) is the top ranked South Central team and No. 15 Colorado School of Mines (14-1-2) is the only other region team in the rankings. Minnesota State-Mankato remains the top ranked team in the nation with a 15-0-0 record.
 
LAST TIME AROUND
SAN ANGELO – The No. 11-ranked Angelo State soccer team opened Lone Star Conference play with a scoreless draw against Midwestern State on Friday, Sept. 26 at the ASU Soccer Complex despite owning a 15-6 shot advantage in the battle between last season's conference co-champions.

The Rambelles (6-0-1, 0-0-1 LSC) were led offensively by Sierra Anderson and Selena Alvarez who had three shots each, while Brittany Martinez made two great clearing plays for the ASU defense and Shantel Wittke recorded four saves in 110 minutes in goal against the Mustangs (4-0-4, 0-0-1 LSC).

"I thought we played really well defensively and did a good job of winning the ball and pushing forward," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "The problem for us came in the final third where we weren't able to find the right pass to finish for a goal. It's hard to play good attacking soccer when the other team is playing with eight backs. I thought they played deep to not allow any goals and we needed to do a better job with the chances we had."

The scoreless draw in front of 645 fans who came out for the first night game in ASU history breaks up a six-game winning streak by ASU and also stops string of four or more goals scored in those six games. The Rambelles put continuous pressure on the Mustangs in the overtime sessions with three shots in the first overtime and then four in the second session. Alvarez and Anderson each had strong opportunities that went wide, while Haley Mendel just missed on a header opportunity on a cross.

MSU put only one shot on goal in the two overtimes after having three shots in the first half. Destinee Williamson led the Mustangs with two shots on goal and Courtney Burnette recorded three saves in a complete-game effort in goal.

"It was a high-intensity game," Martinez said. "You always know when you play Midwestern that you have to play hard and smart for the entire game. I think we did a good job defensively and stayed focused on not allowing them to score."

Mendel and Jenny Kotowych each finished the game with two shots each for ASU and Caitlyn Conaway, Ashley Exford, Kathleen Keoughan and Cynthia Andrews each had one shot.