Soccer begins its eighth season against Tulsa and UTEP

Women's Soccer | 8/20/2014 10:13:00 AM

ACU at Tulsa Video | Live Stats

ACU vs. UTEP Video | Live Stats

ABILENE, Texas - Abilene Christian's women's soccer team begins its 2014 campaign this weekend with a Friday night road match at Tulsa followed by a Sunday home contest at Shotwell Stadium vs. Texas-El Paso at 1:30 p.m.

Both matches will be streamed via the world wide web and offer live statistics.

The Wildcats' meeting with Tulsa at the Hurricane Soccer Stadium is the first between the two schools, while their showdown vs. the Miners is the second in two years. ACU and UTEP tied at 1-1 last fall in El Paso as Andrea Carpenter netted the equalizer in the 58th minute and goalkeeper Sydney Newton made five saves over the final 65 minutes.

UTEP was the first NCAA DI school to face the Wildcats during their inaugural season in the Southland Conference. ACU went on to finish the year at 13-5 and placed fourth in the Southland. UTEP also fared well in going 12-6-3 and 5-3-2 vs. Conference USA; however, the Miners' season would end in the conference quarterfinals vs. East Carolina.

Tulsa was a dominant part of C-USA for nine years, including last fall, but is now a first-year member of the American Athletic Conference, which it joined in July of 2014. The Golden Hurricanes went 11-6-4 a year ago and reached the league championship for the third straight year, where they were ousted in penalty kicks by Colorado College.

The American Athletic Conference head coaches picked Tulsa seventh of 10 teams in the preseason poll behind defending champion Central Florida, Connecticut, Memphis, South Florida, SMU and Cincinnati. Ranked behind the Golden Hurricanes were East Carolina, Temple and Houston.

Tulsa returns 14 letterwinners, including five starters, and three squad members from a year ago, in addition to 10 newcomers.

UTEP, which will play host Friday to Texas State before coming to the Key City, returns six starters and 18 letterwinners from last year's team. The Miners also have added seven freshmen to a roster with nine sophomores.

ACU is 5-2 in season openers dating back to the program's inception in 2007 with five of those matches coming on the road. In fact, the Wildcats haven't openend a season at home since their 20-win campaign in 2011.

In home openers, ACU is an impressive 6-1 with its lone defeat coming in overtime against 12th-ranked Florida Southern in 2010.

2014 will be ACU's first season in which all its matches are played off campus as the Wildcats await the completion of their new soccer and track facility, which is schedule to open next year. Seven of the Wildcats' designated home games will be played at Shotwell Stadium - the home of ACU Football - while the Aug. 29 match vs. Wayland Baptist will be contested at Hardin-Simmons.

To prepare for competition on the artificial surface, head coach Casey Wilson and his team split practice time this summer between Shotwell and the nearby Action Zone off Treadaway Boulevard.

"It's a little hotter playing on the turf, but it's good at both places," he said. "The length of the field and wind direction is also the same at Shotwell as it is at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch, so one of our few adjustments will be just getting used to the overall size of the stadium."

At 28 student-athletes, Wilson's roster is one of his largest at ACU and is comprised of 11 freshmen, including redshirts Leslie Snider and Kate Seay, seven sophomores, four juniors and six seniors.

Sixteen of these players have prior playing experience as Wildcats, including the six returning starters – forward and leading returning scorer Natalie Throneberry, midfielders Nicci Nelson and Alyssa Gerner, defenders Emily Sumrall and Kelsie Roberts and goaltender Kelsey Dombrowski, who started 15 of 19 matches as a freshman. Newton also did very well in goal last fall, finishing with five wins and 0.84 goals-against average.

As a tandem, Dombrowski and Newton combined for seven shutouts, an 0.88 goals-against average, 81 saves and a .827 save percentage.
 
Newton's GAA was the sixth lowest in the Southland Conference, while Dombrowski's mark of 0.91 was ranked seventh. Both netminders also finished among the league's top-10 in save percentage.

Offensively, Throneberry will be joined up top by senior Taylor Brown and a mix of new freshman, while the middle will be anchored by the two returning starters plus seniors Sarah Schoch, Madison Brown and Tiffany Ysassi.

Gerner - who assisted on four goals in 2013 - is an option to play at midfield or on defense. Senior Katie Stivers also has started along the back line and her experience will be needed in order to help the coaching staff replace the likes of Brie Buschman, Whitley Lindholm and Katherine Garner.