ABILENE, Texas - Abilene Christian soccer completed a 2-0 homestand Sunday with a thrilling 2-1 decision over the first-place and defending Southland Conference tournament champions from Southeastern Louisiana.
ACU has won three of its last four to even its season record at 6-6 (3-1 Southland), while the Lions had their four-match winning streak snapped in falling to 10-2 overall and 3-1 vs. the league. Prior to today, Southeastern had not lost a conference match since dropping a 2-0 contest to Stephen F. Austin on Oct. 18, 2013.
The game-winner was scored by
Alyssa Gerner, who in the 70th minute, lofted a 12-foot diagonal over the head of Lion goalkeeper Casey Jeanfreau after receiving a endline pass from
Leslie Snider.
The play originated in the southwest corner, where junior
Lindsey Jones had taken a corner kick 18 seconds earlier. The ball made its way back to Jones and she crossed it into the penalty box, from where it touched a player or two before Snider got control and dropped it back to Gerner.
Gerner didn't waste any time getting to the ball, planting, and sending a perfect arc of a shot into the back of the net for her first career score.
Up until that point, however, it certainly felt Southeastern - the highest scoring team in the league this season with 41 goals - would be first to break the 1-1 deadlock. The Lions came out of the break with two quick chances in the 48th minute, but goalkeeper
Sydney Newton deflected a shot by Cheyenne Maxwell before one of her defenders blocked a follow-up attempt by Bri Singh - who earlier gave SLU a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.
Around the end the 50th minute, Newton made two critical saves within a 40-second window with a corner kick taken in between. And during the closing seconds with the Wildcats ahead, 2-1, Newton saved one last shot by Chelsea Villaescusa in the 88th minute and watched another with 33 seconds remaining land on the back side of the lower-left corner.
Villaescusa's final shot caused some confusion from within the Shotwell Stadium crowd as it initially appeared that the ball went into the net, not on top of it.
The Wildcats started the match with some early chances, but had their first two shots saved by Jeanfreau, and then a header from senior
Sarah Schoch sailed high as she tried to redirect one of Jones' corner kicks.
ACU failed to produce anything on a second corner kick opportunity two minutes later, and the Lions soon capitalized when Singh - the conference's leading scorer with 11 goals - hooked the ball in off a bounce past ACU starting goalkeeper
Kelsey Dombrowski. Singh took her shot from an angle about eight yards away and was assisted by Villaescusa.
Southeastern continued to pressure over the next several minutes, but had shots off corners miss wide and high and another saved by Dombrowski, which kept the Wildcats' one-goal deficit in tact.
Overall, the Lions maintained control of the ball for more than 20 minutes following Singh's goal, outshooting the Wildcats, 4-1, during this stretch. But ACU would get its equalizer in the 34th minute when freshman
Baylee Mitchell scored an absolute gem of a goal from 10-yards away.
After receiving the ball off a throw-in from the near sideline, Mitchell danced with the ball for a few seconds, trying to open enough room between herself and the defender. And once she did, Mitchell scorched a laser blast around the defender and past the outstretched arm of Jeanfreau who was diving toward the left side of the netting.
ACU took three more shots during the closing minutes of the first half as each side entered the break with eight shots and three corner kicks.
The two teams each finished with 16 shots, eight in each half, while Southeastern had one more corner kick, 5-4. Dombrowski and Newton combined for six saves and Jeanfreau made seven stops in a losing effort.
The Wildcats return to action Friday for a 7 p.m. match at Central Arkansas. They'll have Sunday off followed by a two match homestand Oct. 10 and 12 vs. Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin.
