SAN ANGELO – The No. 11-ranked Angelo State soccer team opens Lone Star Conference play at 7 p.m. on Friday against Midwestern State in a matchup of last season's regular-season co-champions at the ASU Soccer Field.

The Rambelles (6-0-0) are off to the best start in program history and have outscored their opponents 28-3 this season, while the Mustangs (4-0-3) are on a four-game winning streak after earning a 6-1 win over Southern Nazarene on Tuesday night. ASU has matched the longest winning streak in program history with its six straight wins and has scored four or more goals in each of its first six games this season. The Rambelles are coming off a week where they earned an 8-0 win over Oklahoma Christian and a 4-0 victory over St. Mary's.

ASU and MSU each finished last season with 7-2-1 conference records, but the Rambelles won the tiebreaker to host the LSC Championships. Both teams were awarded championship trophies after claiming a share of the regular-season title. ASU owns a 4-3-1 record over the Mustangs over the past five seasons entering Friday's game. MSU is now coached by Damian Clarke who previously was the head coach at Fort Lewis College and took over for Jeff Trimble who left Wichita Falls to coach at Hendrix.

At home this season, the Rambelles are outscoring their opponents 20-2 coming into Friday's game against MSU which celebrated the LSC Championship on the ASU Soccer Field after taking a 4-2 penalty kick decision over West Texas A&M on Nov.11, 2013 in the tournament's title game.

The Rambelles will also host Texas-Permian Basin this weekend with a 1 p.m. start time scheduled for Sunday at the ASU Soccer Field.
 
Quotes  ||  Travis McCorkle, Angelo State head coach

On playing against Midwestern State on Friday at the ASU Soccer Field:
"It's going to be a challenge playing against their defense. They are a very organized team. Damian's teams at Fort Lewis were always really strong in the midfield and that is the way Midwestern is playing right now. We are excited about scoring four goals a game to start the season, but a 1-0 or 2-0 win would be just as satisfying against Midwestern. It will be a very difficult challenge and we'll have to be ready."
On opening Lone Star Conference play after starting the season with six non-conference wins:
"We look at it as if we have three seasons. We have the non-conference, the conference and then the postseason. We did a great job in the non-conference, but now we are just like everyone else at 0-0 coming into Friday. Now it's a matter of us going out to the field against Midwestern and continuing the way we've started the season."
 
Rambelle Roster Report

Shantel Wittke has recorded three shutouts in goal for the Rambelles this season and has made 23 saves. A junior goalkeeper from Arizona, Wittke transferred to ASU last season from Arkansas-Little Rock and has played 434 minutes in goal this season.. She currently has a .885 saves percentage and a 5-0-0 record in goal. Sophomore Natalie Nielsen is 1-0-0 in goal and recorded the first shutout of her career last Friday against Oklahoma Christian. Nielsen is a team captain along with senior defender Caitlyn Conaway.

Haley Mendel continues to lead the Angelo State soccer team's offensive attack with seven goals and three assists. A sophomore from Bastrop, Mendel leads the Lone Star Conference with her seven goals and also leads the LSC with 17 points through the first six games of the ASU schedule. She currently ranks eighth in the nation in total goals and points. Mendel opened the season with two goals against Adams State, followed with another against New Mexico Highlands and then two more against Colorado Mesa. She added her seventh in the 8-0 win over Oklahoma Christian and had assists against Adams State and two against OC. Mendel was named the LSC Offensive Player of the Week last Tuesday after her three-goal, two-assist week in the wins over Fort Lewis and Mesa.

Sierra Anderson and Loni Byers are both coming off two-goal weekend's after Byers scored her two goals against OC and Anderson followed with a two-goal performance against St. Mary's last Sunday. Byers, a freshman from California, now has three goals and two assists in her first season with the Rambelles. A junior from Wichita Falls, Anderson also has three goals this season and increased her career total to 12 with her two goals last weekend. Anderson was a first-team LSC selection last season for the Rambelles after having seven goals in her sophomore season. She currently leads ASU with 15 shots this season.

Cynthia Andrews, Brianne Brown, Jenny Kotowych and Elizabeth Rodriguez each have two goals this season for the Rambelles. Brown, who is a senior from LaVernia, scored her first goal of the season against Fort Lewis and then added another last Sunday against St. Mary's. She has three career goals after scoring once last season. Andrews scored her first goal of the 2014 season in the opener against Adams State and then converted a header from a pass from Mendel against OC. Kotowych added her second goal of the season with a penalty kick goal against St. Mary's to give ASU a 1-0 lead and Rodriguez has goals against OC and Fort Lewis. Selena Alvarez, Conaway, Tiffany Dang, Brittany Martinez, Ashley Exford, Kathleen Keoughan and Callie Smith also have one goal each for ASU this season. Amalia Garcia has one assist in her freshman season coming on a Byers goal against New Mexico Highlands.

Mendel and Kotowych lead ASU with three assists, while Byers, Brown and Keoughan have two assists each. The Rambelles are out-shooting their opponents 96-44 this season and have a 58-28 shots-on-goal advantage through their first six games of the season. ASU has a .292 shot percentage and is 4-for-5 on penalty kicks with Smith, Rodriguez, Mendel, and Kotowych scoring on PKs.
 
Mustang Report

The Mustangs travel to San Angelo for Friday's conference opener with a 4-0-3 record and are on a four-game winning streak with victories over Southern Nazarene (W, 6-1), Southwestern Oklahoma (W, 3-0), Oklahoma Christian (W, 6-0) and Lubbock Christian (W, 2-1). MSU opened its season with ties against Colorado Mesa, Fort Lewis and Western State Colorado before starting its winning streak. MSU is outscoring its opponents 19-4 and have a 138-110 shot advantage.

The Mustangs are 1-0-1 on the road and have had nine players score this season. Destinee Williamson and Nicole Coetzer leads the team with four goals each. Williamson, a freshman from Bedford, also leads MSU with three assists. Ashley Cottrell, the LSC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, has added three goals and an assist and Alexandria Edwards and Alyssa Parkhill have added two goals each. Cottrell earned the LSC Offensive Player of the Year award last season after an 11-goal, two assist sophomore season.

Courtney Burnette has played all 690 minutes of play for the Mustangs in goal this season. A 5-foot-5 freshman from Irving, Burnette has made 49 saves (93 percent) and leads the LSC with four shutouts. She has a 0.52 goals against average coming into San Angelo on Friday.

Midwestern State claimed a share of the LSC championship last season with the Rambelles after going 7-2-1 in conference play to go along with its 13-5-3 overall record. The Mustangs are under new leadership after their head coach Jeff Trimble accepted the same position with Hendrix College and Damian Clarke took over after a successful career at Fort Lewis. MSU won the LSC tournament in San Angelo after besting Texas A&M-Commerce 3-1 on penalty kicks in the semifinals before winning 4-2 on penalty kicks against West Texas A&M in the championship game. The Mustangs earned their spot in the NCAA DII South Central Championship where their season ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to Metro State in Golden, Colorado. ASU trails the all-time series 7-13-6 to MSU after the two teams split last season's games with the road team winning each game. They will meet in the conference opener on Friday in San Angelo before playing the conference finale on Friday, Oct. 31 in Wichita Falls.
 
Rambelles in the Rankings
On the rise again, the Angelo State soccer team is now the No. 11-ranked team in the nation according to the NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II Poll which was released on Tuesday.

The Rambelles (6-0-0) are off to the best start in program history and have outscored their opponents 28-3 this season. ASU is coming off a pair of shutout wins last weekend where it earned an 8-0 victory over Oklahoma Christian last Friday and then a 4-0 win over St. Mary's on Sunday. ASU, which had never been ranked in program history until entering the polls last week at No. 14, is second in the NCAA DII South Central rankings behind only Colorado School of Mines (4-1-1).

"We had two good shutouts last weekend with the key being great defending by our team," McCorkle said. "We did a good job of not giving away anything by holding Oklahoma Christian to one shot and limiting St. Mary's opportunities. Our goalkeepers did a good job and Ashley Exford played great for us as our central defender. It was just a good weekend defensively."

Angelo State is the only Lone Star Conference team in the national rankings, while No. 5 Colorado School of Mines and No. 23 Metro State also represent the South Central region in the national poll. Western State Colorado is receiving votes in the polling.

College of Saint Rose (6-0-0) remains at No. 1 in the national rankings with Minnesota State-Mankato (6-0-0) at No. 2 and No. 3 California State University Stanislaus (6-0-0) and No. 4 Grand Valley State (4-1-0) joining the Orediggers in the polls top-5. The NSCAA Top-25 Poll is conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and is released every Tuesday throughout the season.