COMMERCE, TEXAS – Lions soccer (15-5) will set a school-record this Sunday for most times an opponent has been played against in a single season, as they will face the Angelo State Rambelles (16-4-1) for the fourth time this year, with a trip to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen on the line.
 
The No. 23 ranked Lions drew the No. 2 seed in the region following their dual-LSC conference titles in both the regular season and the tournament, which gave them the privilege of hosting their first NCAA Tournament games in school-history. They currently ride a seven-game-winning streak, which includes post-season games against Midwestern State and Angelo State.
 
ASU advances to play the Lions after Friday night's 2-0 victory over No. 13 MSU-Denver, thanks to the game-winner by freshman forward Tiffany Dang in the 12th minute. The Rambelles' win sets up their fifth game on Lion Soccer Field since October 19, which is actually more than the four games the Lions will have played at home over that period. Angelo State is 2-0 against neutral site opponents in Commerce (3-1 vs. ENMU; 2-0 vs. MSU-Denver), but are 0-2 against the Lions.
 
In the first game at A&M-Commerce, the Lions won a closely contested match, winning 1-0 thanks to a Savannah Henderson game-winner in the 69th minute. Then, just a week ago in the LSC Tournament Championship game, each team traded two-goal outbursts before Jade Bell ultimately scored the game-winning goal, earning herself Tournament MVP honors in the process. The only time the Rambelles managed to overcome the Lions this season was back on October 3 in San Angelo, when Sierra Anderson netted the golden goal in double-overtime, breaking the scoreless tie with only six minutes left in the game.
 
Anderson (15G, 1A) has been the focal point of the ASU offense, and though she's scored a whopping four goals on Lion Soccer Field this year, none have come against the Lions. In two contests against the Lions in Commerce, Anderson has rattled off nine shots, four of which were on-frame. Yet to date, she's been unable to solve head coach Neil Piper's defensive scheme. The last time these teams faced off, the Rambelle-scoring came from unlikely contributors, as both junior midfielder Selena Alvarez and senior forward Brianne Brown came off the bench to deliver the offensive punch for head coach Travis McCorkle's squad.
 
The Lions offensive scheme will base itself on the health of top-scorer Savannah Henderson (13G, 6A), who took a spill in her last meeting with Angelo State last weekend with a lower body injury and did not return to the game. With or without her, the Lions managed all their goal scoring against ASU after Henderson's exit, meaning they've demonstrated success both with and without the top-point scorer in the Lone Star Conference. Jade Bell (10G, 8A) enters Sunday on an eight-game point-scoring streak, while defender Anitra Wright (2G, 3A) comes off an LSC-Tournament weekend in which she scored one goal and two assists. Once again, the Lions will be tasked with penetrating the Rambelle defensive-front which includes LSC Co-Defender of the Year Ashley Exford and LSC Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Shantel Wittke, who's amassed 10 shutouts on the year.
 
In goal, the Lions will look to continue riding the momentum of junior keeper Courtnie Northern, who spent last weekend outplaying both LSC Co-Goalkeepers of the Year Courtney Burnette and Shantel Wittke in back-to-back games. Northern enters Sunday with seven shutouts to compliment her 0.876 save percentage.
 
The winner of Sunday's game advances to the Regional Finals, where they will play the winner of No. 4 seeded St. Edward's and No. 1 seeded Colorado School of Mines. If the Orediggers win that match, they would host next Friday's game in Golden, Colorado no matter what. If the Hilltoppers prevail, they'd be coming back to Texas to either visit the Lions in Commerce, or to host the Rambelles at home in Austin, Texas as the situation dictated.
 
The Rambelles and Lions are set to face off for the fourth and final time this year on Sunday, November 16 at 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the gate, or $5 for children 12 and under as well as students of either school with valid student IDs. As a special promotion courtesy of Campus Life and Student Development, the first 300 A&M-Commerce students to arrive to Sunday's match will be admitted free of charge.