Soccer | 10/24/2016 4:20:00 PM
SAN ANGELO - The Angelo State soccer team will hit the road again this weekend, playing its final two games of the 2016 regular season against Texas Woman's at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28 in Denton and at Texas A&M-Commerce at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30.
The Belles (10-5-1, 6-4-0) split the two road matches they played last week, winning at UTPB on Wednesday 4-1 before falling to Midwestern State in Wichita Falls on Sunday. The loss to MSU was the first for the Belles in a road match this season, and ASU now stands at No. 4 in the conference behind West Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Commerce and Midwestern State.
"We tried, last week, changing the system that we put our players in to try and manufacture some more goals," ASU head soccer coach Travis McCorkle said. "We got the goals against UTPB, which was good, but then against Midwestern State we couldn't score. So we're going to keep experimenting and see what we can come up with to score some more goals."
Offensively, Angelo State had its best game of the year against Texas Permian Basin, scoring a season high four goal against the Falcons. The four scores were split evenly between forwards Loni Byers and Demi Tsambasis, who had two each.
The two from Tsambasis pushed to her a team-leading 12 on the season, which is double the amount she scored last season. The senior's total also leads the Lone Star Conference and is good for No. 15 in the nation. Five of the goals have been game-winners, which leads the conference as well, and ranks
Tsambasis also got an assist on one of Byers' goals, moving her into a tie for second on the team with three total. Overall, the California native has averaged 1.69 points a game for a total of 27, which also leads the LSC.
Byers two goals gave her a total of three on the season, which ties with freshman Trenadey Scott for second on the team. Cynthia Andrews, Analise Watson and Ally Warren fall not far behind with two goals each, and Tiffany Dang and Megan Allen have each gotten one goal as well.
The assist on all four goals came from four different players, as Tsambasis, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Callie Smith and Shay Williams all helped create scoring opportunities in the match. The assist for Williams was her fourth on the season, which leads the team and is good for third in the Lone Star Conference.
Williams has also been an integral part of the ASU defense this season, which ranks first in the conference in goals against, only allowing .629 goals per game this season.
The senior defender, along with the rest of the back line of Ashley Exford, Kylie Deel, Lauren Perry, Callie Smith and Cecilia Guerrero, have continued to limit the number of shots and goals allowed this season.
The Belles have only been outshot in one of their 16 games so far this season, and have limited opponents to lest than ten shots in all but five games all season.
Goalkeeper Sammy Cude has aided the defense as well, playing in every game for the Belles and leading the team in minutes. Cude has made 47 saves this season with a save percentage of .810, which is second in the conference, and the freshman has gone 9-5-1 in her first season with the team.
ASU has taken on both TWU and TAMC before this season, defeating the Pioneers 2-0 and losing the matchup with the Lions.
Texas Woman's comes into the game at 8-7-1 on the season with a 4-6 showing in conference play. The Pioneers are currently ranked behind the Belles at No. 4 in the conference.
Texas A&M-Commerce is currently the top team in the conference, playing with just four losses this season compared to 12 wins. The Lions only two losses to conference opponents this season have come from Texas Woman's and West Texas A&M. TAMC has won the last six matchups between the two teams, including the one earlier this season, but the Belles had won five straight prior to that.
"We know we're in the conference tournament at this point," McCorkle said, "so now it's about whether or not we can improve and progress over the course of these next three guaranteed games."
