For the second time this season, the Texas A&M University-Commerce (2-4) football team faces a top-ranked Lone Star Conference team in Texas A&M University-Kingsville (6-0). The Lions will have to be at the top of their game if they hope to keep up with the #6 ranked Javelinas, who average over 450 yards on offense a game. A&M-Commerce has been stingy against the run all season, letting up less than 100 yards a game. Their pass defense, however, is another story- the Lions allow more than 300 yards through the air a game. Head coach Guy Morriss doesn’t see A&M-Kingsville’s ranking as a big deal. “ACU’s number two ranking didn’t seem to faze our team very much, so I don’t think that the number six ranking will,” he said. A&M-Commerce is riding a two-game winning streak going into its third straight home game. They’ve struggled offensively in most of their games this season, but have shown they are capable of sustaining large drives as typified by their last-second winning drive against the University of Central Oklahoma two weeks ago. This week they will need to control the clock through the running game and play nearly mistake-free football to give themselves a chance against the Javelinas. “They have two big running backs that they’ll be running at us all game,” Morriss said. “So we’ll load the box to stop the run, but they have a play-action pass for almost every running play, so we’ll have to make sure we don’t come down on them too fast.”
Kickoff for the Homecoming game will take place at 2 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
Women’s Soccer
The A&M-Commerce women’s soccer team now has only one game over Homecoming weekend after recent rescheduling due to weather. Their original game set for Friday, Oct. 9, against West Texas A&M has been moved to Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Sunday’s game against Eastern New Mexico was subsequently moved to Monday, Oct. 12, at noon. This gives the Lions an extra day to prepare for two big conference games.
“I guess the extra day helps,” head coach Neil Piper said about the schedule change. “I don’t know how much of an extra day we’ll get because of the rain. I expect this field to be flooded tomorrow. I would just as soon get the game over with; I think we’re ready.”
The Lions played West Texas A&M (8-1-1) twice last year, winning the first encounter in LSC regular season play 1-0. It was the Lady Buffs who had the last laugh at the LSC tournament, as they won 1-0 over A&M-Commerce in the tournament final. Piper said any game played between two of the big four LSC teams (A&M-Commerce, Central Oklahoma, Midwestern, West Texas A&M) is bound to be an exciting one.
“It has ramifications on the conference champion,” he said. “We split with them last year. They were both good games, so I expect another good game. They’re probably the most physical team we’ll see this year, and so we have to match it.”
Piper said he plans on having his team play with four defenders at the back instead of the usual three against the Lady Buffs, but also added that they always have the ability to go back to the way they normally line up.
“We plan on playing four at the back, seeing how it works,” Piper said. “We’re running out of second chances, so we need a couple of wins this weekend.”
West Texas A&M’s only loss of the season came against the Lions’ Monday opponents Eastern New Mexico, who are 7-5 overall. The last time they met was on Oct. 17 of last year, and the Lions won that encounter 3-1 in Portales, N.M. Piper said although that score line appears to signify an easy win for his team he believes it was the toughest match they played last season
Volleyball
The Lions returned to LSC action in volleyball last night, losing 3-0 away to Angelo State, after winning three of four matches at the Pittsburg State Classic in Kansas last weekend.
This weekend they travel to Abilene, Texas, to take on Abilene Christian University on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
Last season, the Lions beat Abilene Christian at home 3-1 (25-23, 25-14, 18-25, 25-21). The last time A&M-Commerce traveled to Abilene they lost 3-0.
Women’s golf
The men may have finished up their fall season last weekend, but the women’s golf team has one more tournament left. The Oklahoma Invitational in Duncan, Okla., hosted by Cameron University, starts this Sunday, Oct. 11 and concludes that following Tuesday.