By Wes Bloomquist  ||  wes.bloomquist@angelo.edu

COMMERCE – With another stifling defensive performance which has become the Angelo State standard, all it really took was one dang goal to send the Rambelles to the second round of the NCAA Division II South Central tournament with a 2-0 win over No. 13-ranked Metro State on Friday at the Lions Soccer Field.  

Tiffany Dang scored in the 12th minute of play when Cynthia Andrews headed a corner kick by Brittany Martinez into the goal area. A save of Andrew's header by the Roadrunner goalkeeper deflected the ball to Dang who sent in her second goal of the season and gave the Rambelles a 1-0 early advantage. A defensive battle ensued before Sierra Anderson sealed the win with a 90th minute goal to give ASU a two-goal win and the program's first NCAA postseason win in its history.  

"I thought we did a good job of pressing their back-four and not letting them have a lot of time to knock the ball around," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "Their midfield was really good and that caused us some problems early in the game, but we did a good job of adjusting and started winning second balls in the midfield and our forwards did a good job of forcing errors by their defenders for turnovers."   

ASU (16-4-1) will now play A&M-Commerce at 1 p.m. on Sunday in the second round of the regional tournament with the winner advancing to the third round. The Rambelles, who are playing in the second NCAA tournament in program history and first since 2010, recorded their 13th shutout of the season against and ended the Roadrunners season with a 14-2-5 overall record. Goalkeeper Shantel Wittke earned her 10th shutout of the season behind strong defensive play by Lauren Perry, Ashley Exford, Caitlyn Conaway and Brittan Martinez and in the process established a new ASU record for individual shutouts by a goalkeeper in a season. Wittke made six saves in the game for the Rambelles in the win, including a late-save with a diving effort. The defense limited MSU to four shots in the first half where the offense was aggressive with 10 shots.

"We just tried to keep them in front of us and make sure no one was running through," Perry said. "Their through-passes were cut-off by defenders who dropped back and we were to cover each other. They came out strong and we knew that they were going to be a very good team. There weren't really any down times when we felt comfortable, but we are all very confident in each other. I wasn't really nervous, but we had to keep on our watch the whole game."

Anderson, who now has 15 goals this season, led the offensive attack with seven shots in the game, while Haley Mendel had three shots and Dang put two shots on goal. Dang now has two goals in her freshman season to go along with five assists, while Andrews has three assists. ASU owned a 19-13 shot advantage and a 9-6 shots on goal advantage over MSU.

Angelo State is now 1-1 all-time in the NCAA tournament going into its Sunday game against A&M-Commerce. ASU is 1-2 against the Lions this season after the two teams split their regular-season series and then the Lions took a 3-2 last Sunday in the Lone Star Conference Championships in Commerce.