ABILENE – Stephen F. Austin soccer took another step toward winning its fifth consecutive Southland Conference regular-season title Tuesday, defeating Abilene Christian, 2-0, at Elmer Gray Stadium.
Breanna Moore and Madison Hall scored for the undefeated-in-conference Ladyjacks in the 12th and 64th minutes, while Allyson Smith and Lillie Ehlert combined for the shutout on five saves. With the victory, SFA enters its Friday finale vs. Sam Houston State at 8-0-2, five points ahead of second-place Houston Baptist, which could still claim the top seed at the Southland Conference Championship if it wins its last two matches vs. Lamar (Wednesday) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Friday) coupled with an SFA loss to the Bearkats.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their championship dreams vanished with the shutout defeat that snapped a six-match unbeaten streak. They still, however, could finish as high as second with a win at home Friday vs. Incarnate Word that would tie their highest Southland Conference win total at seven.
ACU has finished fourth in the Southland Conference the past two seasons, winning seven games in 2013 and five in 2014.
The Ladyjacks and Wildcats were to have played this match last Friday night when the two sides were separated by one point for first place, but two days worth of rain in the Big Country saturated the pitch and washed away with it a great build up of anticipation as the match was postponed for several days. In between Friday and today SFA distanced itself from ACU by defeating UIW, 2-0, while in Abilene, the Wildcats battled Sam Houston State to a disappointing 2-2 deadlock that dropped them behind HBU and into third place.
ACU struggled to find its footing offensively in the first half and already trailed 1-0 by the time it recorded its first shot in the 18th minute – a long-distance laser from senior
Lindsey Jones that just cleared the top of the crossbar. The Wildcats attempted only four more shots the rest of the half, but one was blocked by the Ladyjack defense and Smith, who played the first 45 minutes in goal, saved the other three in routine fashion.
ACU kept pressing offensively as evident by its 8-2 advantage in corner kicks, but saw no results as the Wildcats could only generated two shots off those key opportunities, both of which were by freshman
Dylan Owens. Ehlert caught the Willard, Mo., native's first shot off a corner, and then her header in the 57th minute just missed wide.
Owens and
Maria Gomez, who had a direct free kick caught by Smith in the first half, led the Wildcats with three shots apiece.
ACU outshot SFA, 5-3, in the second half, but its defense committed a costly foul near the top of the penalty area halfway through the period and Hall capitalized with a precise 20-yard strike that hooked around a Wildcat wall before rattling the net to the right of goalkeeper
Sydney Newton.
SFA would attempt only two more shots the rest of the match, while the Wildcats were limited to one in the 87th minute that was saved by Ehlert plus the back-to-back corner kicks by
Natalie Throneberry in the 82nd minute.
Newton was credited with two saves in her complete-game effort, and Hanna Barker fired the most shots for SFA with three.
Prior to ACU's Friday match vs. Incarnate Word at 7 p.m., seniors Jones,
Nicci Nelson and
Rachel Shedd will be recognized during a pregame ceremony.
