TULSA, Okla. - Abilene sophomore goalkeeper
Sydney Newton recorded a career-high eight saves in the Wildcats' 1-0 loss at Tulsa in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Hurricane Stadium.
Newton's previous high of seven saves were recorded in a 1-0 win last season at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch vs. Houston Baptist.
A native of Mansfield, Texas, Newton's busy night in the net (15 shots faced) began with consecutive saves off headers smashed by Lauren King and Kajal Parmar. She was then aided by the crossbar and made her fourth stop of the half in the 31st minute against Alexa Sidorakis.
The Golden Hurricane created four scoring opportunities immediately out of the break with a pair of shots (one saved, one wide) and corners, and soon broke the scoreless deadlock in the 54th minute after Madison Smith slid the ball to King, who finished it past Newton.
King and Parmar nearly pushed the Tulsa lead to 2-0 nine minutes later, but Newton broke up Parmar's pass attempt. And in the 74th minute Newton caught a blast off the foot of Annie Sohmer, who had just sped past a Wildcat defender.
ACU's offense was limited to three shots. The first was by sophomore
Maria Gomez in the 41st minute. Sophomore
Natalie Throneberry then took a couple hacks during the final five minutes of regulation, but had one attempt blocked and another saved by Tulsa goalkeeper Marleigh Essler.
Essler was credited with two saves in her shutout victory. The Golden Hurricane also successfully defended three ACU corner kicks in the first half.
The Wildcats return to action Sunday at 1:30 p.m. vs. UTEP at Shotwell Stadium. These two sides played to a 1-1 draw last fall in El Paso, Texas. The game will be broadcast on
ACUSports.com by
Grant Boone and
Juan Nunez.
Admission to the match is free.
