Box Score
ABILENE - Two quick second half goals within the span of two minutes lifted the Abilene Christian soccer team past Sam Houston State, 2-1, in the Southland Conference season opener for both teams.
Jacey Ferrara scored in the 51st minute and
Andrea Carpenter in the 53rd, raising ACU's season and conference season records to 7-0-1 and 1-0, while the Bearkats fell to 2-5-1 and 0-1.
Mariah Titus helped make things interesting over the final 20 minutes after connecting on a diagonal from 15 yards away, but the Wildcats' defense tightened enough to prevent an equalizer although there were several close calls along the way.
Shots by Tricia Mallory and Shelby McDaniel in the 81st and 89th minutes just missed the crossbar, and in the 83rd minute, Titus' second shot attempt sailed wide. ACU defense also successfully defended one of five Sam Houston corner kicks.
"We played so well in the first part of the second half; we had the momentum but then we started playing a little bit too defensively," said head coach
Casey Wilson. "We started to play like a golfer trying too hard to protect their lead. We took less risks and stopped attacking the last 20 minutes, trying to run the clock out ... and that's not the way we want to finish a match. It's something we have to learn to do."
The two teams played a scoreless first half in which ACU outshot the Bearkats by a sizable margin, 9-3. But to begin the second half, Sam Houston recorded three quick shots - one of which was saved and another that was blocked.
Minutes later, ACU capitalized on its sixth corner kick attempt of the afternoon when a short hopper from freshman
Natalie Throneberry found the foot of Ferrara, who then one-timed the ball past the extended left arm of goalkeeper Kylie Hambleton. The goal was Ferrara's third of the season.
"Jacey has been doing a very good job of finishing those types of passes this week in practice," said Wilson. "She likes having the opportunity to hit those kinds of shots and she's been able to keep the ball low."
Ferrara later added her third assist of the year after playing a perfectly placed ball through traffic to a sprinting Carpenter.
Wilson considered his team's game-winning goal, "a thing of beauty."
"Andrea knew where she was the whole time and did a great job of holding the line ... the timing was just so perfect," he said. "Jacey got the ball through to her inside the 18, and then she dribbled up and struck from about 3 to 4 yards out."
Carpenter's goal was her seventh of 2013 and extended her scoring streak to a six matches. She's among the Southland Conference leaders with 18 points.
ACU finished with a 19-15 advantage in shots and 7-5 lead in corner kicks. Of the 15 shots taken by SHSU, only three were placed on goal as freshman
Sydney Newton made two stops in 90 minutes.
The goal allowed by the Wildcats' in the 80th minute snapped their consecutive scoreless minutes streak at 309.
The Wildcats return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. Houston Baptist.
