ABILENE -- Missouri Southern scored a pair of goals near the end of the first half Friday afternoon and then held on in the second half to take a 2-1 win over ACU, dealing the Wildcats their first loss of the season at the ACU Soccer Field.
With the loss, the Wildcats drop to 4-2, while the Lions -- a pre-season top-25 team -- improve to 4-0 on the season. ACU will return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Ouachita Baptist at the ACU Soccer Field.
Nikki Llewellyn got the Lions on the board first at the 32:28 mark of the first half when she took a pass from Erin Whelan and put it past ACU goalie
Paige Farmer to make it 1-0. A little less than six minutes later, Angela Westphal scored unassisted at the 38:23 mark to make it 2-0 at the break.
ACU's only goal came at the 64:17 mark when
Jordan Reese scored unassisted to make it 2-1. But the Lions would hold the Wildcats without a goal the rest of the way as ACU managed just five shots in the second half (15 in the game).
The Wildcat defense was just as stingy in the second half as it allowed the Lions just six shots (22 in the game). Both teams had only seven shots on goal in a game that gave ACU its toughest test of the season.
For Reese, her goal was her fourth of the season as she became the fourth Wildcat with at least four goals on the season. Missouri Southern became only the second team this season to score against ACU (St. Mary's was the other last Friday), and became the first team to score more than one goal against the Wildcats.
