CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M women's soccer team looks to get back on the winning track as it travels to Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas Woman's for a pair of crucial Lone Star Conference soccer matches this weekend. WT plays at TAMUC on Friday at 7 p.m. and plays at Texas Woman's Sunday at 2 p.m.
Fans can find links to live stats and audio/video streaming of the games at www.gobuffsgo.com on the women's soccer schedule page.
WT is 6-4-4 overall and 4-1-3 in Lone Star Conference play sitting third in the standings, two points ahead of Texas A&M-Commerce and one point behind Midwestern State. Angelo State leads the standings with two weeks remaining in the regular season with 22 points.
If the season ended today, the Lady Buffs would be the No. 3-seed in the LSC Championship and host sixth-seeded Texas Woman's Wed., Nov. 1, in the quarterfinal round with the winner advancing to the regular season champion for the semifinals and finals, Nov. 3-5.
The Lady Buffs are coming off a heartbreaking loss at home to league-leader Angelo State, Sunday as ASU scored the lone goal in the 89th minute in a battle for first place in the conference standings. WT had numerous chances in the contest, as the team had a number of great looks with six shots on goal and had a number of looks sail just wide.
The Lady Buffs sit just outside the top eight in the NCAA South Central Region rankings, which the first rankings were released yesterday. Angelo State leads the initial rankings, followed by Midwestern State, Colorado Mines, St. Edward's, Dallas Baptist, Texas A&M-Commerce, Regis and Rogers State. There will be two more public rankings, each of the next two Wednesdays, before the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 9, where the NCAA Championship field is announced as the top six teams in the selection show rankings will advance to the NCAA Championship.
For the season, the Lady Buffs are led by freshman Noir Hawash, who has four goals, three assists and 11 points to lead the team. She has 15 shots (.267) with seven on goal (.467) and one converted penalty kick. Sophomore Marlene van Mourik is second in scoring with nine points on three goals and three assists. She leads the team with 49 shots (.061) with 27 on goal and a game winner. Redshirt freshman Hannah Kelley and freshman Calista Cordero each have five points on two goals and one assist each. Kelley is second in shots with 20 and shots on goal with ten.
In goal, the Lady Buffs are led by junior Courtney Dippel who has logged 1290:04 minutes in 14 starts with 14 goals against and a 0.98 goals against average. She has 55 saves (.797) and a 6-4-4 record with five shutouts and a combined shutout, while facing 144 shots. Freshman Syneca Pyszko has played in two games for 50:45 minutes with one goal allowed and three saves, while combining on a shutout.
As a team, the Lady Buffs have scored 18 goals and allowed 15, while recording 15 assists and 51 points. WT has 200 shots for a .090 average and 98 on goal (.490) with six game winners and 1-1 in penalty kicks. The Lady Buffs have scored nine goals in each half and have 59 corner kicks on the year, while allowing 38 corners.
Nationally speaking, WT is third in goals against average in the league at 1.07, while ranking second in shutout percentage at 0.429. Dippel ranks fourth in the conference in save percentage at 0.797.
WT head coach Chad Webb is in his eighth season at the helm of the Lady Buffs as he is 70-63-16 (.523) at WT. He is 10-2-2 all-time against Texas Woman's and 7-7-1 against Texas A&M-Commerce.
Texas A&M-Commerce enters with an 8-3-3 record overall and a 4-3-1 mark in conference play. TAMUC is coming off a 1-0 loss to Midwestern State and the Lions are led by Sophie Haywood who leads the team with six goals, two assists and 14 points. She has 44 shots with 24 on frame and three game winners. Sabrina Munguia is second in scoring with 10 points on five goals and two game winners. Jessika Coronado leads the team with four assists on the year. In goal, Caitlin Duty has logged all 1320 minutes, allowing 11 goals (0.75 GAA), with 56 saves (.836) and an 8-3-3 record with six shutouts, while facing 138 shots.
As a team, TAMUC has scored 25 goals and allowed 11 for a 1.76 goals per game average. The team has 236 shots, with 115 on goal, 19 assists and 56 saves, along with 94 corner kicks. TAMUC leads the LSC in goals against average at 0.750, while ranking second in the league in just about every other statistical category. Haywood is second in the league in game winning goals, while Duty ranks second in minutes played for 20th nationally. She leads the league in goals against average and is second in save percentage. Coronado is third in the LSC in assists, while Haywood ranks second in goals (6) and third in points (15).
Head coach Neil Piper is 234-126-36 at TAMUC since 1998. He is 13-17-2 all-time against WT. The Lady Buff handed the then-11th-ranked Lions their first loss of the season on Sept. 24 in Canyon as WT scored the game winning goal from Cordero in the 81st minute, breaking a 1-1 tie for a 2-1 win as the two goals allowed by Duty were the most to that point all season.
WT is 22-14-2 all-time against Texas A&M-Commerce and has lost its last two in Commerce after winning three-straight there from 2012-2014.
Texas Woman's enters with a 4-7-3 record overall and a 1-5-2 mark in Lone Star Conference play and currently sits sixth in the conference standings. The Pioneers have a two point lead on UT Permian Basin for the final LSC championship spot with four games to play.
The Pioneers are led by Chelsea Martin who leads the team with five goals, one assist and 11 points. She has 48 shots with 20 on goal and two game winners. Haley Ward is second in scoring with eight points on three goals and two assists. She has 41 shots and 15 on frame. Jazmine Navarro leads the team with five assists on the year.
In goal, Maddie Vickroy has started all 14 games, logging 1304:55 minutes, allowing 13 goals with 48 saves and a 4-7-3 record with four shutouts and 147 shots faced.
As a team, the Pioneers have 17 goals, 11 assists and 45 points on the year. They have 204 shots and 79 on goal with three game winners and are 2-2 in penalty kicks. The team is allowing 19 goals, 13 assists and 51 points, while the opposition has 157 shots with 70 on frame and seven game winners.
Navarro ranks second in the LSC in assists per game at 0.4 and second in total assists, while Vickroy is third in minutes played (1304:55) and Martin is third in goals with five. TWU head coach Babak Abouzar is in his fifth season as head coach at TWU and is 38-41-9 at the helm of the program.
The Lady Buffs and Pioneers batted to a 1-1 draw in the conference opener for both teams in Canyon on Sept. 22. TWU scored the first goal 12:54 in from Lauren Bradford, while WT sophomore Mackenzie Taylor scored the equalizer at the 41:31 mark in the first half.
WT leads the all-time series with TWU 15-4-3 and has gone 10-3-1 in the last 14 meetings. WT won last season 2-1 in Denton and 2-0 in Canyon.
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