SAN ANGELO – The No. 5-ranked Angelo State women's soccer team will take on Midwestern State in a Lone Star Conference match this Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in Wichita Falls.

The LSC announced Wednesday morning that Sierra Anderson and Ashley Exford won Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively. It's Anderson's second LSC Offensive Player of the Week honors and Exford's first Defensive Player of the Week honor this season.

This match figures to be tightly contested as the two teams played twice last year, tying the first meeting in San Angelo and ASU winning the match in Wichita Falls 1-0. Since 2012, the Belles have gone 2-3-1 against the Mustangs, with each win or loss coming by a one-goal margin.

The Mustangs trail ASU in the standings with a 2-1-1 conference mark, while the Belles boast a 3-1 conference record, best in the LSC. The Belles are 9-1-1 and have nine conference points. Midwestern is 5-2-2 overall and trails in points with seven.

"Midwestern State is a team that's very good in possession," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "They move well off the ball and have a couple of forwards who have been scoring good goals. We need to improve when we have our opportunities to score."

Nine different Belles have scored goals this year, with five of them having multiple goals including Anderson (7), Haley Mendel (6), Tiffany Dang (3), Demi Tsambasis (4) and Selena Alvarez (2). Loni Byers, Payton Shlemon, Kathleen Keoughan and Lauren Perry have each scored one goal.

As a team, ASU leads the LSC in shots (182) with the next closest LSC team being Texas A&M-Commerce with 149. The Belles have also fired away 97 shots on goal which is also tops in the LSC. ASU has tallied 71 points in 11 matches, which also leads the LSC. ASU is also tops in the most important category with 26 goals scored.  

The Belles rank 15^th and 16^th in goals-against average (0.529) and won-lost-tied percentage (.0864), in the nation, respectively. Goalkeeper Shantel Wittke is ninth among goalkeepers across the nation in save percentage at 90-percent, which is also best in the LSC. Wittke and company have logged six shutouts, with three coming in LSC play the last three matches.

"Our defense has been fantastic," McCorkle said. "Shantel has improved in the last couple of weeks. She has really stepped up her performance."

MSU comes into the match having beat West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico last weekend, two teams the Belles defeated last weekend as well. MSU is tied with ASU for the fewest goals allowed in the conference (6).

Destinee Williamson and Aly Wade lead the Mustangs in goals scored with four and three, respectively. Both are in the top ten in the LSC in goals scored. The Mustangs have had seven players score goals this season. In addition, goalkeeper Courtney Burnette has recorded five shutouts and 40 saves this season.

"Destinee has a lot of speed, she's very good in the final third, so we have to make sure we don't give her any breakaways," McCorkle said. "The other forwards that they have are really active through combination play, so they're dangerous in a different way. We have to make sure we don't focus so much attention on Destinee and then let one of their other forwards score [through combination play]."

MSU has outscored opponents 7-1 in the second half of matches this season and the Belles have outscored opponents 15-2 in the second half.