ABILENE -- ACU's
Andrea Carpenter and
Julie Coppedge each scored first-half goals Friday afternoon and that was all the Wildcats needed as they picked up a 2-1 win over Eastern New Mexico in Lone Star Conference soccer action at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the LSC, while the Zias fall to 2-6 and 1-3. ACU will return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when it hosts league-leading West Texas A&M in a key match at the Pitch.
The match was scoreless through the first 34 minutes until Carpenter -- who missed three matches earlier this month after knee surgery -- got a free run down the right side and took a shot from about seven yards out. The ball slipped past ENMU goalkeeper Xan Ortiz and the Wildcats had a 1-0 lead at the 34:06 mark of the first half.
A little more than five minutes later, the Zias were whistled for a foul on Coppedge in the box, and the senior from Amarillo put the penalty kick past Ortiz for a 2-0 ACU lead at the 39:32 mark.
That 2-0 lead held up for the Wildcats until late in the match when the Zias finally made a push on ACU goalkeeper
Arielle Moncure. The Zias got the ball deep into ACU's end of the field before Danielle Thurman took a crossing pass from Danielle Caro and, in the middle of a scrum in front of the ACU goal, got the ball past Moncure to cut the lead to 2-1 at the 81:20 mark.
The Zias never really threatened in the final nine minutes of the match as the Wildcats were able to snap their two-match losing streak.
