Lone Star Conference Championship Central
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian soccer team begins its postseason Friday still ranked as the nation's No. 2 team despite being tied with Central Missouri for the most victories in all of NCAA DII with 17. The Purple Knights of Bridgeport (Conn.), however, remain the only undefeated team at 16-0 and thus hold onto their No. 1 ranking for a sixth straight week.
The Wildcats won two matches last weekend in improving to 17-0-1 on the season and 13-0-1 within the Lone Star Conference. Sunday's 1-0 victory over West Texas A&M served as ACU's 17th of the season and was its 10th shutout, tying a pair of program records that were first established in 2010 (17-3-1).
Senior goalkeeper
Elliott London has been responsible for six of ACU's shutouts in matching her personal best from a year ago. She also ranks 10th nationally with a .399 goals-against average and fifth with a .914 save percentage.
Offensively, sophomore forward
Andrea Carpenter is tied for first in the nation with seven game-winning goals, and is 29th overall with 12 scores.
ACU's offense ranks 26th nationally with 2.33 goals per game and its defense is 16th best with a 0.545 GAA. The Wildcats' win-loss percentage of .972 is second only to Bridgeport (1.000).
In addition to being No. 2 in the nation, ACU again is ranked No. 1 in the South Central region ahead of No. 8 Central Missouri (17-1-0) and former conference foe No. 20 Central Oklahoma (15-2-0). No other Lone Star Conference teams are currently ranked in the national poll, but Midwestern State (11-5-1) is fifth in the region and enters this weekend's conference championship as its No. 2 seed.
The LSC Championship, set for November 3 to 6 at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch in Abilene, is a six-team, single elimination tournament. ACU won last year's championship, and last week clinched its first regular season title in the program's fifth-year.
The championship begins on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 11 a.m. with No. 3 Eastern New Mexico playing No. 6 West Texas A&M. The 1:30 p.m. game matches No. 4 Texas A&M-Commerce against No. 5 Angelo State.
The ENMU/WT winner advances to play MSU at 12 p.m. Friday, while the A&M-C/ASU victor plays ACU at 2:30 p.m. The Friday winners get a day off before playing on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the LSC Championship and automatic bid into the NCAA Division II championship field.
Each of the women's soccer championship games will be aired live via video streaming online via ACUSports.com and LoneStarConference.org. Webcasts of each game are available free of charge. Each webcast includes both video and audio, with viewers needing only a computer with a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection to the Internet. Veteran broadcaster Chris Needham has the call for all the games.
LSC Soccer Championship
November 3-4-6, 2011 in Abilene, Texas
Thursday, Nov. 3
No. 3 Eastern New Mexico vs. No. 6 West Texas A&M, 11 a.m.
No. 4 Texas A&M-Commerce vs. No. 5 Angelo State, 1:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 4
3-6 winner vs. No. 2 Midwestern State, 12 p.m.
4-5 winner vs. No. 1 Abilene Christian, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 6
Championship game, 1 p.m.
