AT Midwestern State 10-24-14 (Live Stats / Video) AT Angelo State 10-26-14 (Live Stats / Video) Lady Buff Game Notes CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M women's soccer team has a crucial weekend of Lone Star Conference competition ahead with road matches against Midwestern State and Angelo State. The Lady Buffs will first face off with the Mustangs on Friday night in Wichita Falls, Texas at 8 p.m. followed by a matchup with ASU on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in San Angelo.
LIVE COVERAGE: Live stats and video will be provided by both schools on the road this weekend. Links can be found on www.GoBuffsGo.com via the women's soccer schedule page. Live scoring updates can also be seen by following @wtathletics on Twitter.
A LOOK AT THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE: The Lady Buffs climbed fell back into last place in the LSC standings after dropping a 1-0 overtime contest to rival Eastern New Mexico last Friday. WT sits in sixth place currently with six points (2-4). Leading the league now is ENMU with 12 points and a 4-2 LSC record followed by Texas A&M-Commerce (4-3) in second with 12 points and ASU (3-3-1) and Texas Woman's (3-3-1) tied for third with 10 points each. On the outside looking in are MSU in fifth with eight points (2-3-2) and WT.
MIDWESTERN STATE AT A GLANCE: The Mustangs will head into Friday's match against WT with a 7-3-5 overall record and 2-3-2 mark in LSC play. Like the Lady Buffs, MSU sits on the outside looking in as it is currently in fifth place with eight points. After starting out conference play with two draws against ASU (0-0) and TWU (1-1), the Mustangs dropped contests to TAMUC (2-1), WT (2-1), and TWU (1-0) while picking up two LSC wins over ENMU (3-1) and TAMUC (2-1).
Destinee Williamson has been the go-to player for the Mustangs with a team-high seven goals on the year with 18 points while ranking second in assists with four. Also doing damage has been Nicole Coetzer with four goals and eight points. Courtnee Burnette has started all 15 matches in goal and owns a .74 GAA and .876 save percentage.
The Lady Buffs are 16-17-2 all-time against the Mustangs and won the first meeting this season, 2-1, in Canyon.
ANGELO STATE AT A GLANCE: The Rambelles started off hot this season and reached as high as eighth in the NSCAA National Coaches' Poll but have recently dropped out with their current three-game skid in LSC play. They currently own a 10-3-1 overall record and 3-3-1 mark in LSC play.
Haley Mendel has done the most damage for the ASU offense with seven goals and four assists for a team-high 18 points. Also tallying seven goals so far has been Sierra Anderson. Five other Rambelles have scored multiple goals while 15 players have tallied goals on the season. Shantel Wittke has seen the majority of action between the pipes for ASU with 12 starts and boasts a .74 GAA and .845 save percentage with a 8-3-1 record. She has tallied 49 saves and seven shutouts while only allowing nine goals.
The Lady Buffs are 15-9-5 all-time against ASU and dropped the first meeting this season with the Rambelles, 2-0, at home in Canyon.
EASTERN NEW MEXICO REVISITED: Despite WT dropped a tough 1-0 decision to the rival Zias of Eastern New Mexico on Friday evening in Portales, N.M. Both teams played scoreless through the first 90 minutes of the match before the Zias were awarded a penalty kick just three minutes into the first overtime period. Danielle Caro converted to improve ENMU's record to 7-5 (4-2, LSC). With the loss, WT fells to 6-8 overall and 2-4 in league play.
WT held the advantage in shots on the evening, 14-11, while seven of those attempts were placed on goal.
Senior
Jessie Thomas had a sure scoring opportunity for the Lady Buffs in just the sixth minute of the match. The Anna, Texas, native, took a pass from midfield near the top of the box as Wilson moved up to contest. Thomas took the first shot but was denied by Wilson then grabbed the immediate rebound for another attempt at an open net but an ENMU defender slid in for the team save. Junior
Dominique Premac would also have a shot in the opening five minutes of play, an attempt sent high above the right post.
Premac sent another crack at the net in the 16th minute from 30 yards out, this time placing the ball on target. But Wilson was able to step in through traffic for another save.
The Zias nearly put one in 25 minutes in with a shot from the far left wing. Kemper would make the save first while the deflected ball bounced toward an open goal making sophomore defender
Marissa Naab raced in for another team save, clearing the ball out of play just before it had a chance to cross the goal line.
WT held a slight edge in shots at the break, 8-6, and also in shots-on-goal, 5-3. Thomas would produce four of those while Premac also added three. Kemper had three assists in the first 45 minutes while Wilson picked up five. Both teams received one corner kick opportunity while each were called offsides once in the first half.
The first 15 minutes of the second frame were very quiet in Portales, with nothing much giving offensively for either side outside of a blocked shot on the Zias early in the half. Thomas then attempted WT's first shot of the second half, a high attempt in the 62nd minute.
The 69th minute saw defenders
Peyton Williams and Naab pull together an excellent defensive stand for the Lady Buffs. Tyra Gabehart had an open look on Kemper and the goal before both Lady Buffs rushed in to force a weak off-balanced shot.
Thomas and Prescott each had two final good looks at the goal before the end of regulation but neither attempt would find the netting, sending the Lady Buffs into extra time for the first time this season.
Just three minutes into that first extra period was when the officials awarded the penalty kick to the home team making the final score 1-0 in favor of the Zias.
With the loss, the Lady Buffs fall to 10-6-1 all-time against ENMU.
