CONWAY, Ark. - Abilene Christian soccer twice came back from a goal down Friday at Central Arkansas to register its first tie of the season at 2-2. Sophomore
Leslie Snider and senior
Taylor Brown both scored for the Wildcats to keep their team's overall record at .500 (6-6-1 / 3-1-1 Southland).
The Bears' record now stands at 5-4-2 and 1-1-1 vs. the Southland. They will play host to Incarnate Word Sunday afternoon.
"This was a tough place to play, a very tough environment for our players," said head coach
Casey Wilson, "so I feel quite proud of our team in coming back twice to answer their goals. We need to do some things better, but it was a solid game overall (and) UCA has a very good and well-coached team that does a lot of things well."
Both sides posted similar numbers across the board tonight. Each scored one goal per half with the Wildcats holding a slight 17-14 edge in shots, but the Bears put more of their attempts on frame, 7-6. ACU also had one more save, 5-4, while UCA committed one more foul, 16-15.
The two schools also recorded five corners apiece, and it was on the Bears' second such opportunity of the match that they broke the scoreless tie in the 24th minute. Vanessa Randall's corner was first settled by Brooke Ballard and then Allie Coleman punched it in past starting goalkeeper
Kelsey Dombrowski from three yards away.
UCA's first lead lasted 12 minutes after Snider finished a pass from
Tiffany Ysassi in the 36th minute, burying it into the bottom left corner and past goalkeeper Anna Hughes. Snider's goal was the first of her collegiate career, and for Ysassi it was her third assist of the fall, tying her for the team lead with
Natalie Throneberry and
Chloe Fifer.
The match remained tied at 1-1 all the way to the 75th minute, where UCA capitalized on a dropped free kick that Chele Naudin tapped in for her first goal of the season.
Sophomore
Sydney Newton, who started the second half and played 29 minutes, allowed the goal and was replaced right afterward by starter Dombrowski.
Newton made two saves on three shots faced, while Dombrowski was credited with three saves on 11 shots faced.
Dombrowski hadn't returned the game for more than three minutes when the Wildcats again hit paydirt in the 78th minute, this time on a redirection by Brown off a shot taken by
Chantal Kinsey, who was credited with the assist.
Brown's goal was her second of the season.
From there, both teams were given equal opportunity to avoid overtime. Senior
Sarah Schoch had a shot saved by Hughes at the start of the 81st minute, and seconds later an ACU defender blocked a shot taken by Dayna Mounie, leading to an unsuccessful corner kick.
Wildcat
Maria Gomez then had a shot go wide in the 83rd minute, and in the 87th minute Dombrowski saved a shot taken by Coleman. Regulation ended with UCA's Shelby Wilson hitting the crossbar.
ACU went on to outshoot the Bears through 20 minutes of overtime, 5-1, but only placed one of those shots on goal. UCA, meanwhile, recorded one corner in the first overtime, and one shot in the second session.
In the closing minutes of the match, ACU had one shot sail wide and another blocked before
Lindsey Jones corner kick in the 109th minute was cleared by the Bears' defense.
The Wildcats are off Sunday and will return to action at home next Friday, Oct. 10 with a noon match at Shotwell Stadium vs. Northwestern State. Admission is free.
