FORT WORTH, Texas - Emma Heckendorn recorded a four-point night on a goal and two assists, leading her TCU Horned Frogs to a 3-0 victory over Abilene Christian Sunday night at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium.
Heckendorn - a starting forward - assisted on the match's first two goals coming in the fourth and 51st minutes by Michelle Prokof and Kela Gray. She then put the match out of reach in the 75th minute with her first goal of the season - a shot from the top of the back that sailed above Wildcat goalkeeper
Sydney Newton.
Newton made four saves in the losing effort and fell to 2-4, while her counterpart Vittoria Arnold improved to 3-2 thanks to six saves.
A majority of ACU's (2-4) offense tonight came from its bench (8 of 12 shots) as sophomore
Maria Gomez led all Wildcats with three shots and placed two on goal in the 27th and 82nd minutes. Gomez also had a shot blocked by the Horned Frogs (3-3) defense, and her attempt at the rebound was stopped by Arnold.
After being outshot 11-5 in the first half, ACU came out of the break slightly more aggressive on offense than TCU; however, its first shot by
Madison Brown was saved by Arnold and its second - taken by
Natalie Throneberry - sailed wide left.
Seconds after Throneberry missed her lone shot of the match, TCU went up 2-0 on the goal by Gray that was assisted by Heckendorn and Allison Ganter.
Only three shots were taken during the 24-minute span in between TCU goals. ACU's
Leslie Snider had her only attempt saved by Arnold in the 60th minute, and then at the start of the 73rd minute, consecutive saves were made by Newton and Arnold within a 44-second window.
Heckendorn's goal came right at the end of the 75th minute, 30 seconds after she subbed back into the match along with two of her teammates.
ACU earned one of their two corner kicks less than a minute after the Heckendorn goal, but Arnold again kept her shutout bid alive by catching a shot taken by freshman
Baylee Mitchell, who entered tonight's contest on a modest two-match scoring streak.
Gomez' shot with 8:02 remaning was the last of the match.
TCU finished with a 20-12 advantage in shots and 5-2 in corner kicks.
The Wildcats remain on the road next weekend as they'll follow up a neutral-site Friday match in San Antonio vs. UT-Pan American with a Sunday trip to Texas Tech.
