SAN ANGELO— The No. 5 Angelo State women's soccer team will hit the road this week to face conferences foes Eastern New Mexico on Friday evening at 4 p.m. CST and West Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
"The first thing we want to do this weekend is perform well," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "About this time last year we had a dip in our form so hopefully we can avoid that. We've had good practices so far. It's going to be important for us that our concentration level is high."
The Belles are riding a four-match winning streak in which they have outscored opponents 7-0, recording four consecutive shutouts. ASU sports a 10-1-1 overall record, with a 4-1-0 conference mark. Last year's squad got off to the best start in program history with a 10-0-1 record. With two wins this weekend, it would mark the Belles best start in school history. The Belles carry a 5-1-1 record on road contests.
ASU comes into the two matches having defeated both teams previously this season. The story all season has been the scoring ability and how the team has been able to spread the scoring and become multi-dimensional in the offensive third. Anderson, the preseason LSC Offensive Player of the Year, who has lived up to that billing thus far, leads the Belles in nearly every offensive category including shots (47), goals (7), assists (5) and points (19).
Anderson tops the conference in shots as well. She is second and third in goals and assists, respectively and ranks top five in the conference in goals, assists, points, goals per game, assists per game and game-winning goals.
Anderson has not been alone in finding the back of the net this season. Nine Belles in total have scored goals with five players scoring multiple times including Mendel (6), Demi Tsambasis (6), Tiffany Dang (3) and Selena Alvarez (2). Loni Byers, Payton Shlemon, Kathleen Keoughan, and Lauren Perry have each scored one goal.
On Friday night the Belles meet an Eastern New Mexico team they defeated earlier in the year by a score of 1-0 after outshooting the Greyhounds 23-1. ENMU enters the match 3-6-1 overall and 0-5-0 in LSC play. Anderson scored the lone goal for the Belles in the victory. ASU has taken three of the last four against ENMU and three in a row, dating back to 2014. During that period the Belles are outscoring the Greyhounds 6-4.
"I think Eastern New Mexico is going to be quite different playing on their home field," McCorkle said. "Their grass is really long and it changes the game and that's something that has been difficult for us."
Melissa Carnero leads the attack for the Greyhounds with three goals and two assists to go along with eight points. She's fired away 16 shots. Morgan Fairbanks also has scored three goals. In total, 10 Greyhounds have scored this season, but the team has been outscored 14-12 in 12 matches.
Sunday afternoon pits ASU against WT. ASU defeated WT earlier this season 2-0 on a penalty kick from Haley Mendel and a late goal from Anderson to seal the victory. WT is 6-6-0 overall and 3-2 in conference play and has won back-to-back matches, beating then-ranked #24 Texas A&M-Commerce 2-1 in its last victory. WT is undefeated on their home field and trails the Belles by just three points for the conference lead.
"With WT, were going to play on turf again, which we did a ton in the beginning of the season," McCorkle said. "I feel like we're in good shape with knowing how to play on it."
WT is steered by freshman Khadidra Debesette who is tied with Anderson for second most goals in the conference (7). Seven players have scored a goal for the Lady Buffs this season. Goalkeeper Courtney Dippel has recorded 35 saves and allowed 11 goals.
The Belles will kick off with ENMU at 4 p.m. CST on Friday and 1 p.m. against WT in Canyon Sunday afternoon.
