ENMU women fall in regular season finale

PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico was the better offensive team for nearly all of Sunday’s pivotal regular season finale against Angelo State.

The Rambelles, however, were the better scoring team for the first three minutes, and that was the difference.

Conference scoring champ Trenadey Scott netted her 14th goal of the season on a breakaway just 2:39 in, and the Angelo defenders helped freshman goalkeeper Kira Miller do the rest in a 1-0 Lone Star Conference victory at Greyhound Stadium.

“We really wanted to have a good start,” said Angelo State coach Travis McCorkle. “Against (West Texas A&M Friday), we didn’t have a good start. It was good to get that early goal.”

The win for Angelo State (10-6-2, 8-3-1 LSC), coupled with a tie by Texas Woman’s against Midwestern State, allowed the Rambelles to leapfrog the Pioneers and into the second seed of this week’s LSC postseason tournament. The top two seeds receive a bye into Friday’s semifinals at top seed West Texas A&M — which clinched the top seed with Friday’s win over the Rambelles.

The Greyhounds (7-8-2, 5-6-1), who would have hosted Texas A&M-Commerce in Wednesday’s 4-5 game with a game, will instead go on the road as the fifth seed for the second consecutive season.

The Lady Buffs will host the ENMU-Commerce winner, while Angelo State faces the winner of the 3-6 game between Texas Woman’s and Midwestern State.

After Scott’s goal, the offensive pressure was one-sided in the Greyhounds’ favor. Eastern outshot the Rambelles 12-1 the final 87 minutes, including 5-0 on goal.

“They did a great job,” Eastern coach Joshua Smith said. “We had a tough start, but we dominated the play. Except for those three minutes, we executed really well.

“Story of our season, though; we’ve got to find ways to put the ball into the net.”

Miller stopped ENMU from doing that, but she had plenty of help with her defensive front stopping six shots before they could even reach the box.

The Greyhounds’ best scoring chance came in the 84th minute, when Charlotte Collins-Blaize got a little bit of free space just outside of the box and fired a high left shot that Miller erased with a diving catch. After that, the Rambelles were largely able to salt away the clock and keep the ball out of their defensive half of the field.

McCorkle, who helped start both the men’s and women’s programs at ENMU before taking over at Angelo State in 2008, admitted it feels like a different program when it’s house at Greyhound Stadium.

“I do get a little sentimental when we drive by the practice field (the former pitch), and I remember hundreds of hours planting grass, painting and setting up metal structures,” McCorkle said. “Otherwise, when I’m here (in Greyhound Stadium), it definitely is not the same.”

Smith, meanwhile, had to worry about the current program, and making a requisition for a bus to travel to Commerce.

“Commerce is a very disciplined team,” Smith said. “We’ve got to not play into their game. I think if we play like we did today and (Friday) against UT Permian Basin, it’s a winnable game for us.”