LIVE STATS
VIDEO
GAME NOTES
CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M open the 2021 spring season on Friday, Feb. 5, at home against Abilene Christian. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Th Pitch.
Friday's match will be the Lady Buffs first regular season match against a Division I opponent since 2005.
A LOOK AT THE LADY BUFFS
Chad Webb returns for his 11th season as head coach of the Lady Buff program after going 10-8-0 overall and 9-4-0 in conference play in 2019.
Hannah Kelley-Lusk will lead an attack that features a lot of new faces including transfers
Asha James,
Damaris Cruz,
Vanessa Aragon and
Kahrena Thompson. Nori Hawash returns for her senior year and will look to build on her seven career goals.
Calista Cordero and
Jessica Diaz anchor the midfield along with
Ashley Silvestre. Diaz has provided 11 assists during her three-year career including five during the Lady Buffs run to the NCAA Division II Quarterfinal in 2018.
Cheyenne Orozco returns for her senior season having appeared in 62 matches during her career. Th 2019 Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Year will be joined by junior
Emily Avila and
Alex Jurado.
A LOOK AT ABILENE CHRISTIAN
Abilene Christian opens the spring season on Friday after going 2-2-1 in the fall under 14th year head coach Casey Wilson.
The Wildcat attack is led by three-time First Team All-Southland performer Christina Arteaga. The senior from Pflugerrville native started in all five games in the fall for ACU scoring a goal against Texas State. She ranks second in ACU history in points, goals and shots on-goal. Look for Addi Bonaventure, Brianna Diaz, Faith Husbenet, Jordan Michie and Caylen Wright to be involved in the attack as well.
The midfield is led by senior Brittney Harris, who appeared in 17 games with three starts in 2019. She also appeared in 20 matches as a sophomore and 11 matches as a freshman. Natalie Jones also patrols the middle of the pitch as the Lubbock native tallied seven goals and seven assists en route to being named the conference Freshman of the Year in 2019.
Alyssia Anuat, the 2018 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, started in all 19 games in 2019 playing 1,323 minutes. Freshman Hannah Gage will look to make an immediate impact for the Wildcats as she started in all five game in the fall.
Erin Smith has made 29 appearances in goal for the Wildcats including six starts as a junior. She finished with a record of 4-2-0 allowing 10 goals while recording 24 saves.
THE SERIES
The Lady Buffs are 4-3-1 all-time against the Wildcats dating back to their days as Lone Star Conference rivals. Their last match was played on Oct. 5, 2012 in Canyon with WT winning 2-0.
LADY BUFFS PICKED FOURTH
The Lady Buffs were picked to finish fourth in the LSC in the preseason poll that was released on Wednesday morning. DBU was picked to repeat as champions followed by St. Edward's and Lubbock Christian.
Kelley-Lusk was named the LSC preseason offensive player of the year for the second consecutive year. The Farmington, N.M. native scored 10 goals with five assists last season en route to earning First Team All-LSC recognition for the second straight year. For her career, she has scored 22 goals with 12 assists for 56 points. She has also scored 10 game-winners.
REYES ELEVATED TO ASSISTANT COACH
Miguel Reyes has been elevated to assistant coach after spending last season as a graduate assistant, Webb announced on Monday. He replaces Kevin Driggs who was named the head coach at St. Mary's.
ATTACKING THE RECORD BOOK
Oroczo enters the season having played the fourth-most minutes program history, 5,730. The Albuquerque, N.M. has started in all but one game of your career needs 325 minutes to pass
Mackenzie Taylor for third.
Kelley-Lusk needs a goal or an assist to move into the Top 10 in career points. The senior's 56 points (22 goals, 12 assists) is one less than former teammate
Khaline Jacob. She also ranks third in game-winners and ninth in goals.
LIVE COVERAGE
Friday's match will be broadcast on the LSC Digital Network with a cost of $10. Live stats can be found at GoBuffsGo.com.
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs finish the non-conference portion of their schedule on Friday, Feb. 12, against Lubbock Christian.
