CANYON, Texas – No. 5 Angelo State added a sixth win to their streak with a 2-0 shutout over the West Texas A&M Lady Buffs on Sunday afternoon.
With the victory the Belles moved to 12-1-1 overall and 6-1-0 in the Lone Star Conference and improved on the best start to a season. The Lady Buffs dropped to 6-7-1 and 3-3-1 in the LSC with the loss.
"I thought the team played great," Angelo State head soccer coach Travis McCorkle said. "The girls did a fantastic job winning so many headers and through balls in the first half. In the second half, I knew set pieces were going to be trouble with the wind being so strong and after spending so much time working on those we finally got rewarded today with a tap in off the corner. Overall, it was a really good performance."
Payton Shlemon got the team rolling with the first goal of the afternoon coming the final minute of the first half. Tiffany Dang made a spectacular run, getting inside the 18 where she took a shot that was deflected by the WTAMU keeper. An alert Shlemon followed the shot in rebounding the ball off the defection tapped the ball over the keeper. This was Shlemon's second goal of the season. Dang was credited with her fourth assist of the year.
In the 76th minute, Haley Mendel added her eighth goal of the season to give ASU a 2-0 lead. The goal came off a Kathleen Keoughan corner kick and was assisted by Loni Byers. Mendel is averaging 1.29 points per game. It was Byers second assist of the season and Keoughan's first.
"She is always going to be a handful for teams in and around the 18 because she is so good on the dribble," McCorkle said about Mendel. "She takes players on and wrong foots them. I thought she did a good job today of making herself dangerous."
ASU's stout defense recorded the squad's ninth shutout of the season and sixth in the LSC. Shantel Wittke tallied seven saves on the afternoon which took her season total to 50. She is 9-1-1 when between the sticks with eight shutouts.
The Belles return home to take on Midwestern State on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. ASU shutout the Mustangs in their last meeting in Wichita Falls.
"I would like to challenge our fans and see those fans that came out for the Dallas Baptist game," McCorkle commented on the upcoming game. "They were vocal and super supportive of our team, which really gave them a lift. Because we haven't had very many home games, we really want to come home and show our fans what we have been accomplishing all year."
