SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State soccer program will make its 12th appearance at the Lone Star Conference Soccer Championships this week when the Rambelles open the tournament with a 5 p.m. semifinal game against Eastern New Mexico at the Lion Soccer Field in Commerce.
The No. 25-ranked Rambelles (14-3-1) are the second seed in this year's tournament and will be looking to win the program's first conference tournament. ASU, which is making its fifth straight postseason appearance, is 2-11 all-time at the conference tournament and 1-1 against the Zias (9-7-0) this season. A&M-Commerce is the top seed in the tournament and will play No. 4 Midwestern State at 7:30 p.m. in the other semifinal.
"I think the key for us is creating chances," ASU head coach
Travis McCorkle said. "The more chances we create the more likely we are to score goals and get wins. That's important at this time of year because each team has great defenses and do not just give away opportunities. I think our midfield will need to provide quality passes to get those chances and our set pieces will be really important. A good set piece can make a real difference in the result of the game. Our defense is always important too and we've proven throughout the course of this season that we have a strong defensive unit."
The two Friday night winners will play at 1 p.m. on Sunday for the LSC tournament title which awards that team an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division II South Central Championship. The NCAA DII soccer selection show will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10. ASU was ranked No. 2 in the NCAA DII South Central regional rankings last week with the updated rankings being released on Wednesday ahead of the final rankings next Monday. The Rambelles, who are in their 20th season as a program, are looking to advance to the regional tournament for the second time in school history after reaching the 2010 tournament.
Neither Angelo State or ENMU have advanced to a LSC Championship finals and the two programs willl be meeting in the conference tournament against each other for the first time. ASU is 5-2-1 against ENMU over the past four seasons and own a 9-5-1 advantage in the all-time series.
"Eastern is a very hardworking team that likes to get balls into the penalty area as quick as possible," said McCorkle of ENMU. "They can cause problems there with that ability to get the ball in quickly and their corner kicks are effective because they surround the goalkeeper and force her to come out and make a play. It's going to be a tough challenge for us that will require us to bring a lot of energy and effort."
ASU enters the postseason on a three-game winning streak and having outscored its opponents 43-10 this season. The Rambelles have already established multiple program records including total wins, consecutive unbeaten games (11), win streak (6), consecutive shutouts (7) and scoreless minutes (786). This season has also seen the Rambelles in the national polls for the first time in program history, reaching as high as No. 8 in the nation and are currently ranked No. 25 going into Tuesday's release of the updated NSCAA DII poll. Â
The Rambelles roster includes 10 players with LSC tournament playing experience and 13 players who are making their first postseason experience. ASU has played with a deep and productive team all season, with 15 players scoring goals, 12 players with assists and two goalkeepers with multiple shutouts.
RAMBELLE ROSTER REPORTThe Rambelles limited their opponents to only 10 goals in 18 games this season in large measure to the strong defensive play throughout the season by defenders
Ashley Exford,
Caitlyn Conaway,
Lauren Perry,
Brittany Martinez and
Dakota Briseno. The defenders limited the opposition to only 4.1 shots on goal per game and helped the team establish a new program record with 12 shutouts. At goalkeeper,
Shantel Wittke earned nine shutouts and combined with
Natalie Nielsen for another last Sunday at SWOSU. Wittke finished the regular season with 58 saves, a 0.62 goals against average and a .853 saves percentage. She led the conference in shutouts and finished the year with a 12-3-1 individual goalkeeper record.
Sierra Anderson led the Rambelles this season with 11 goals and enters the postseason with 20 goals in her three-year career at ASU. A junior from Wichita Falls, Anderson scored the game-winner last Friday with an unassisted goal at Midwestern State for her fourth goal in the past five games. She has scored two goals in three games this season coming against St. Mary's and twice against West Texas A&M and finished the regular season with seven goals in the 10 conference contests. Anderson scored one goal against ENMU this season and took five shots against the Zia defense. She finished the regular season with 34 shots on goal and with a .576 percentage on those chances.
Haley Mendel and
Tiffany Dang led the Rambelles with five assists each in the regular season. Mendel, a sophomore from Bastrop, also added seven goals for a total of 19 points in her second season at ASU. She recorded the lone hat trick of the ASU season when she scored three goals against Colorado Mesa and also had a two-goal game against Adams State in the season opener. She assisted on two goals by Anderson and
Cynthia Andrews and one by
Elizabeth Rodriguez. Dang, a freshman from North Richland Hills, assisted on four of Anderson's goals and one by
Dakota Briseno. She also had one goal this season with a goal against Colorado Mesa.
Loni Byers provided four goals and four assists in her freshman season, including assisting on Anderson's goal two weeks ago against ENMU. Byers scored her first goal of the season against New Mexico Highlands and then added a two-goal game against Oklahoma Christian and then her fourth goal against Texas-Permian Basin. She has assisted on goals by
Jenny Kotowych,
Brianne Brown and two of Anderson's goals this season. Rodriguez and Kotowych each had three goals this season with Kotowych finishing with three assists and Rodriguez having one assist. Rodriguez scored on a penalty-kick goal two weeks ago to cap a 3-0 win over WT and also had goals against Fort Lewis College and Oklahoma Christian this season.
Selena Alvarez and
Kathleen Keoughan each scored their second goals of the season in Sunday's win over Southwestern Oklahoma. Keoughan opened scoring with a free-kick goal and now has eight career goals, while Alvarez found the back of the net after a corner kick. Alvarez has eight career goals after scoring five last season as a sophomore and having one during her freshman season. Brown,
Ashley Exford and Andrews each have two goals this season, while
Callie Smith,
Caitlyn Conaway,
Brittany Martinez and Briseno each have one goal this season. Â
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EASTERN NEW MEXICO REPORTThe Zias enter the postseason winning four of their last six games, but dropped the regular-season finale 0-1 to A&M-Commerce on their home field in a game which could have given them the LSC regular-season championship and tournament hosting right. ENMU went 1-1 against ASU this season after handing the Rambelles their first loss of the season with a 2-0 win over then No. 8-ranked ASU on Oct. 12 before ASU earned a 2-1 win at home on Oct. 24. The Zias scored 22 goals this season and allowed 23 goals. The team recorded five shutouts in the regular season and were 2-0 in overtime games.
Alyssa Prince and Victoria Perez led the Zias with six goals each, while Melissa Moxley had five assists and Renee Romero added three assists. Prince scored both goals in the 2-0 win over the Rambelles in Portales. Fabienne Wilson has made 47 saves and has a 7-4-0 record with four shutouts in goal this season, while Alyxandra Ortiz has made 19 saves and has a 2-3-0 record in goal for the Zias.
ENMU is 3-5 away from home this season entering the LSC Soccer Championship and are 0-2 all-time in conference tournament history. The Zias made the 2006 tournament for the first time under current ASU head coach
Travis McCorkle and also made the 2011 tournament. This will be their third trip to the conference tournament.
Rambelles in the National RankingsSAN ANGELO – The Angelo State soccer team will enter the postseason ranked No. 20 in the nation after jumping up five spots in the
NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II poll which was released on Tuesday.
The No. 20-ranked Rambelles completed the regular season with a 14-3-1 overall record after earning a 1-0 win over Midwestern State last Friday and a 2-0 non-conference victory over Southwestern Oklahoma last Sunday.
"I think we can compete with any team that we play," ASU head coach
Travis McCorkle said. "My goals for the team entering the postseason are limitless. It's going to come down to us executing every time we play. I'm hopeful that we can keep up our momentum and make this a long postseason."
ASU has outscored its opponents 43-10 this season, including going 8-0 in non-conference play with a 33-3 goal scoring advantage over non-LSC teams. The Rambelles have already established multiple program records including total wins (14), consecutive unbeaten games (11), win streak (6), consecutive shutouts (7) and scoreless minutes (786).
The Rambelles, who had never been ranked in program history before this season, entered the polls seven 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 two weeks ago before reemerging into the national poll last Tuesday at No. 25. The Rambelles remain the only LSC team ranked, while No. 9 Colorado School of Mines (15-1-3) is the top ranked South Central team and No. 13 Metro State (12-1-3) is the only other region team in the rankings. Minnesota State-Mankato remains the top ranked team in the nation with an 18-0-0 record, while Barry (11-1-2), East Stroudsburg (17-1-0), Wisconsin-Parkside (15-0-2) and Columbus State (15-1-1) round out the national top-5.
ASU was ranked second in last week's official NCAA Division II regional rankings. The updated regional rankings will be announced on Wednesday. The unofficial NSCAA regional rankings put Mines and Metro State in the top two spots in its regional poll, while ASU is third with Regis and Dallas Baptist fourth and fifth. Texas A&M-Commerce, which won the LSC regular-season championship and is hosting this week's tournament, is sixth in the region according to the NSCAA rankings and Eastern New Mexico is ninth and Midwestern State is 10th.
