Wildcats Claim LSC Championship

WICHITA FALLS – At the start of the season head coach Casey Wilson believed his team was a championship caliber team. With a 2-0 win over Midwestern State Sunday, the Wildcats are exactly that, winning their first ever Lone Star Conference Championship and earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

“Today was a great team effort for our girls. They played with so much heart and determination, I'm really proud of them,” said head coach Casey Wilson. “We were able to finish some opportunities we didn't have in the first meeting, and didn't allow them the same opportunities. We played great today and it was good to finish it off.”

Andrea Carpenter has led the LSC's highest scoring offense all season and played a big role again today. After a scoreless first half, Carpenter put the Wildcats on the board first finding a loose ball to the left of the net for the game's first goal. 

Carpenter caught the ball on an assist from Ashley Holton for her 19th goal of the season. Both Holton and Carpenter were named to the all-Tournament Team with Carpenter earning MVP honors.

“Today was a great team effort, but Andrea played a big role in the game,” Wilson said. “She was in on both goals, obviously the first she kicked in, but the second she did a great job of getting the ball to (Katherine) Garner for the second.”

ACU added to their lead in the 68th minute when Carpenter assisted Garner giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.

From there the Wildcat defense was solid. Controlling the ball most of the game, ACU limited Midwestern to only nine shots. Goalkeeper Elliot London finished with six saves on the afternoon helping preserve the shutout for ACU, London's fifth of the season.

ACU held a 16-9 shot advantage in the match as well as pitching their ninth shutout of the season.

Joining Carpenter and Holton on the all-Tournament Team is sophomores Julie Coppedge and Lexi Stirling. Freshman Brie Buschman was also earned all-Tournament honors for her defensive play.

With the win ACU earns the Lone Star Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament advancing for the first time in program history. In the tournament it marks the first two post-season wins for the Wildcats as well as the first ever LSC Championship. The announcement of pairings for the NCAA Regional tournament will be announced tomorrow, Monday, November 8 on NCAA.com at 6 p.m.

Fans can also check back to acusports.com for complete coverage of the Wildcats pairing in the NCAA Tournament.