SAN ANGELO, Texas – The 12
th-ranked Angelo State women's soccer team held on to a tight victory over St. Mary's, defeating the Rattlers 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Spring Lone Star Conference Women's Soccer Championship on Tuesday night at the ASU Soccer Field.
Notching their sixth shutout, the Belles remain undefeated with an 8-0-0 record, recording their second win over St. Mary's this season who falls to 5-6-0. With the win, the Belles will continue the Lone Star Tournament at home as Angelo State hosts St. Edward's in the semifinals on Saturday, Apr. 10 at 7 p.m.
The Belles pressured St. Mary's early and often in the match, hitting three shots and earning two corners in the first five minutes of action.
ASU nearly scored in the 25
th minute as
Valerie Solis controlled the ball just in the box, firing a shot into the bottom corner but StMU's keeper made the diving save. Moments later
Gabby Villagrand gave a shot attempt followed by a header from
Cassidy Hill that also ended in a save.
"To start we were fantastic, the first 20 minutes or so I thought we were all over them, pressuring and creating chances, we were just a moment away from changing the game," said Head Coach
Travis McCorkle. "Credit to St. Mary's, his team played a heck of a game and they did a great job."
The Belles tallied eight shots in the first half, finishing with 13 altogether, while the defense remained as consistent as they have been all season, giving up only three attempts.
After a scoreless first half, the Belles continued their aggression offensively creating a few early chances but couldn't put the ball away.
"At the end of the day it shows we have some stuff to work on and we need to improve," added McCorkle. We have been a great finishing team but today we struggled and that will give us something to work on and our movement in the midfield could be better"
As the Rattlers continued to find a stop inside the box, they struggled on the counter-attack as the backline of the Belles stifled nearly every attempt to advance the ball and keep possession for ASU.
Kira Miller recorded her second straight clean sheet inside the posts for Angelo State, tallying one save as she improves to 2-0 on the season.
"
Maddi Kyle did a great job moving the ball up the field to Avery,
Marissa Brezgiel has been extremely reliable, and for her to have the game she had I was really happy, and Cassidy and Kylie did a great job, we have a terrific defense. It's a credit to our team that we can look to our bench and not drop off. Our depth will be important as we advance in the postseason."
With just under 10 minutes to go, the Belles finally broke the scoreless tie as
Neleh Coleman sent a cross in from the left side of the goal, skipping two StMU defenders to find
Emily Keoughan who snuck the ball past the keeper for the game-winning goal, her second of the season.
Solis finished the game with five shots, three landing on goal, while Villagrand and
Cindy Rodriguez each had two shot attempts.
"We ended up on the right side tonight and hopefully we will learn some lessons after this game and play a little better on Saturday."
