ABILENE – This weekend's road trip for the Abilene Christian women's soccer team to Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M will serve as a sort of homecoming for Amarillo natives
Brie Buschman,
Andrea Carpenter,
Julie Coppedge and
Sarah Schoch.
All four student-athletes played throughout the region for Amarillo and Randall High Schools, and their return to the Texas Panhandle will be celebrated with a progressive dinner organized by the families. But before the Wildcats take a seat at the table they'll be challenged first by the Zias (4-2-1) who stand atop the Lone Star Conference at 2-0-1.
The all-time series between ACU and Eastern New Mexico is tied at 2-2 with neither side winning consecutively against the other. The Wildcats won last year's match at home, 3-1, behind Carpenter's first career hat trick.
“We have come out hard against them,” Carpenter said, “and hope they're not riding the momentum they've built off their fast start.”
The Zias began conference play with one-goal wins over West Texas A&M and Texas Woman's before settling for a 1-1 tie vs. A&M-Commerce. However, in those last two matches they've received game-changing goals in the 81st and 89th minutes.
West Texas A&M, meanwhile, is 4-3 overall and 1-2 vs. the conference after winning 3-1 on the road Sunday at Texas Woman's. Leslie Briggs leads the Lady Buffs with six goals and scored twice vs. the Pioneers.
As for the 5-0-1 Wildcats, last weekend was a mix of aggravation and elation beginning with a 1-1 tie vs. Incarnate Word and ending with a 2-0 triumph over Angelo State. The Cardinals slowed the ACU offense by playing back in the box, and then raised their level of hostility in the second half as evidenced by their 15 fouls.
Wildcat head coach
Casey Wilson said he was frustrated by UIW's level of physicality, but even more so by his team's missed scoring chances.
“They did a good job defending us but at the same time we weren't being patient enough to find different openings,” he said. “Regardless of how physical they played, it should have been our game to win just because of the overall number of opportunities.”
Carpenter agreed, adding, “Knowing what we're capable of, we're better than playing to a tie … and with all the opportunities we had we should have put them away earlier.”
ACU fired 25 shots on the Cardinals, but their goalkeeper made 13 saves and defenders blocked six additional shots. The Wildcats also failed to convert any of their eight corner kicks, and would have lost outright if not for an own goal nicked in by Cardinals during the 40th minute.
Wilson made several switches heading into the Angelo State match in response to the tie, the most noticeable of which was dropping Carpenter from forward to midfield. He also moved
Lyndsey Womack up from the back line to midfield, replacing her with
Whitley Lindholm and
Jacey Ferrara as ACU went from a 4-4-2 to 5-3-2 alignment.
“It was a good strategy,” said Carpenter, who was informed of the move just before Sunday's match. “With so many teams centering their defense around Krysta (Grimm) and I, we were able to throw off their game plan by having Ashley (Holton) up top and me out wide.”
The moves worked offensively as
Krysta Grimm found herself open inside the six-yard box in scoring both goals, and defensively, ACU picked up its third shutout of the season. Grimm's first goal came off
Whitley Lindholm's corner kick in the 18th minute, and her second came inside the 76th minute after being fed a pass by
Madison Brown.
ACU finished the match vs. Angelo State with 21 shots and placed a third of its attempts on frame.
“Our focus Sunday – as it is for all our matches – was to make every pass count,” Wilson said. “ASU played a defense that was very similar to Incarnate Word's, but we were more patient in finding opportunities and more effective on our corner kicks.”
Kick-off times for this weekend's matches are Friday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
