ABILENE – Abilene Christian seniors
Ashley Holton,
Elliott London and
Lyndsey Womack will be honored by family and teammates during ceremonies prior to Sunday's 1 p.m. match vs. West Texas A&M at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
This trio has together witnessed every single minute of the program's history from Womack scoring the first Wildcat goal in August of 2007 to Holton becoming its first All-American at the conclusion of 2010. In between the pipes, London has elevated herself into the upper echelon of DII goalkeepers with an all-time win-loss record of 22-2-1, nine shutouts and a 0.54 goals-against average.
"These seniors are a special three, all being very unique both in their style of play and personalities,” said head coach
Casey Wilson. “It has been a pleasure having them at ACU and I hope they've enjoyed their time here as well."
Womack remains the last link to the 2007 team as a result of an ACL surgery that forced her to miss all of 2010, but she's come back strong this season, contributing five points through 11 starts as a midfielder or defender. Her assist during Wednesday's 1-0 win over Midwestern State was the 11th of her career to go along with 18 goals.
The first player recruited for the ACU program, Womack began her career as a forward and led the Wildcats in goals (10) and points (24) while posting a solid .521 shots-on-goal percentage on 48 attempts. Three of her goals came during a seven-point performance vs. McMurry.
From there Womack played in 35 additional matches between her sophomore and junior seasons, scoring seven more goals and earning various postseason accolades from the Lone Star Conference and NSCAA South Central Region. She's also been named twice to the LSC Commissioner's Honor Roll.
“The (recruiting) trip was worth it as Lyndsey's been one of the faces of ACU Soccer since day one,” Wilson said. “She is a tremendous athlete with great speed and has done so much for this program over the years. It will be strange not to have her here anymore next year since she's been here since the beginning.”
Holton joined ACU in 2010 after spending two seasons at Cuyamaca College and paid immediate dividends on offense as one-half of a two-prong attack with
Andrea Carpenter. Holton finished second to her teammate in goals (14) and points scored (32) while adding four assists as the Wildcats won the conference tournament and made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. She scored two goals in her Wildcat debut vs. UC-Colorado Springs and three vs. East Central, becoming the third ACU player to record a hat trick.
Holton's tremendous efforts resulted in her being named first team all-LSC and all-South Central Region midfielder in addition to being named All-American.
“Ashley is a special player with a unique intuition for the game,” Wilson said. “This year and last she has created numerous opportunities for this team offensively and plays the game with a lot of passion. Her calm demeanor on the field has always allowed her to make some incredible plays in tight situations with no degree of panic. Players with Ashley's ability are rare in DII and we've been fortunate to have her playing for us."
London's been a part of the Wildcats since 2008 but didn't spend a full year in goal until her junior season of 2010, when she made all-LSC honorable mention behind a 13-2 record and 0.66 GAA. She also stopped 62 shots, which was good for a .849 save percentage and notched consecutive shutouts at the conference tournament over Angelo State and top-seeded Midwestern State.
London's most recent shutout victory over the Mustangs yesterday was her third of the year, raised her season mark to a perfect 9-0, and lowered her GAA to 0.37.
“Elliott has a tremendous work ethic and is a true competitor who loves soccer,” Wilson said. “Whether Elliott has been the starter or not over the years she has always desired to give our team the best look possible at practice in preparation for the games. We appreciate what Elliott has contributed to this program and she has definitely made her mark."
Sunday's match is scheduled to be ACU's last at home this season unless it wins the Lone Star Conference, in which case the Wildcats will play host to its first league tournament the weekend of Nov. 3. ACU enters the weekend with a conference record of 6-0-1 and is eight points ahead of second-place Angelo State (3-2-2, 11 points).
ACU will battle through all seven LSC schools once again starting with Friday's 4 p.m. home match vs. Eastern New Mexico. The Wildcats defeated the Zias 3-0 earlier this season in Portales, N.M., and topped the Lady Buffs 2-0 on the same trip in Canyon, Texas.
