ODESSA – Katie Squires and Maggie Schaffer provided the goals and Danielle Edwards and the defenders preserved a shutout as the Angelo State soccer team opened its season with a 2-0 win over Texas-Permian Basin on Thursday at Falcon Field.

Squires scored the first goal of the match and of her career in the 27th minute of the first half, while Schaffer added insurance with an unassisted goal less than two minutes into the second half. Schaffer, who scored three goals against the Falcons in last year's 5-0 ASU win, now has seven goals in her career as a Rambelle.
 
“It boosts our confidence to get an early goal and gets our team riled up,” Squires said. “We really get more focused and confident when we are able to score quickly.”

The Rambelles outshot the Falcons 22-3 in the match and put nine of those shots on goal. The ASU defense limited UTPB to one shot in the second half, a shot that Edwards handled easily. The shutout was Edwards' first of her career.

“You always take pride in having a shutout. We have to continue to develop that in our games,” ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. “We gave up a shot that could have resulted in a goal but our goalkeeper did her job to preserve the shutout. They put pressure on us but our defenders adjusted to it and didn't allow anything too extreme. Our midfielders did a great job of clogging up space to help.”

Lauren Carnes led ASU with five shots, while fellow senior captain Hanna Horeis had three shots. Freshman Lauren Bateman and sophomore Brittany Martinez also had three shots for the Rambelle offense.

Angelo State (1-0) moves to 7-2-2 all-time against UTPB and to 4-1-1 in matches played in Odessa. The Rambelles return to action at 5 p.m. on Saturday with a non-conference match against New Mexico Highlands at the ASU Soccer Field.

 
Additional Quotes

Travis McCorkle
On his overall impressions of the Rambelles' win:
The biggest improvement I saw was in the second half with our possession. There were a few nerves early on, but I think we calmed down and played really well in the second half. We created some great opportunities. Brittany Martinez came off the bench and had three great shots for us. I'm pleased with the second half.
 
Lauren Carnes
On what the Rambelles did well against UTPB:
We really competed well in the air. We are shorter than most teams, including this one, but we jumped up and won most of the balls. Our speed and heart really showed on the field today.

On the Rambelles getting on the board first and scoring an early goal in the second half:
When you score quickly you get hyped and the other team gets down. That's what happened. We kept pushing hard and wouldn't let them get any of the momentum that the early goal gave us.

On the Rambelles' home opener on Saturday:
The home opener is really exciting. They are a very good team and we are looking forward to our fan base coming out to help us. We are ready to show the crowd that they are really important to us.
 
 
Katie Squires
On what the Rambelles did well against UTPB:
I think our physicality was really good and we were worked some early problems out. We switched our formation and it worked. We communicated really well and took some chances that got some good goals. It was a nice win.

On the Rambelles' home opener on Saturday against New Mexico Highlands:
I'm looking forward to showing our home fans the type of team that we are this season. We are physical and are really coming together.
 

Maggie Schaffer
On tacking on an early goal in the second half against UTPB:
It was exciting because there were too many times last year where we weren't able to score early goals. I feel like our shooting is really improving and we are more confident in our scoring abilities.

On securing a win the season opener:
Getting that first win was really important to us. We can't let a game slip away from us and we did a great job of coming out here and really playing well.