Women's Soccer | 9/2/2015 3:36:00 PM
Live Stats vs. North Texas | vs. Texas A&M Live Video vs. North Texas | Live Video vs. Texas A&M ABILENE – This weekend is a historic one for the Abilene Christian soccer program as the Wildcats follow their opening of Elmer Gray Stadium Friday night with their first-ever nationally broadcast game Sunday evening at No. 3 Texas A&M, which will be shown on SEC Network +.
Although the new Elmer Gray Stadium officially opened several months ago for track and field's Wes Kittley Invitational, Friday's 7 p.m. match against the Mean Green of North Texas will serve as the official grand opening for ACU soccer. It will be broadcast on
ACU Sports' Stretch Internet Channel by Johnathan Raitz (play-by-play) and
Juan Nunez (analyst).
To help commemorate this notable event, the ACU Athletics Department is offering free admission to pack the bleachers (1,000 capacity) and free t-shirts to the first 100 students in attendance for College Colors Day. Additional prizes to be given away throughout the match include gift cards to Whataburger and Buffalo Wild Wings plus several ACU Prize Packs.
Elmer Gray Stadium is the third home complex in as many years for the Wildcats. They played their first seven seasons at the Wildcat Soccer Complex from 2007 to 2013, and then moved into Shotwell Stadium during the fall of 2014 as the new Elmer Gray was being constructed.
ACU was 5-3 on the turf of Shotwell a year ago, and posted a 41-14-3 (.733) record on the East/West facing field of the Wildcat Soccer Complex.
The Mean Green comes into this weekend at 3-1. North Texas started its year on a three-game winning streak, beating teams from Southern Utah (2-1), UNLV (1-0) and Incarnate Word (2-0), but then lost 2-1 at home to Texas.
Texas A&M (4-0) is the second straight top-10 team the Wildcats have faced in as many years, joining No. 7 Texas Tech, which beat the Wildcats last September in Lubbock, 2-0. The Aggies also are the first SEC team to play ACU in soccer.
A&M defeated Rice, 4-2, in its season opener and have since shut out its last three opponents by a combined score of 9-0. They scored three times vs. the Southland's Northwestern State, tallied four goals vs. UC Irvine and punched in a pair vs. Florida Atlantic.
The Wildcats' trip to A&M's Ellis Field is their second in two weeks. Last Sunday they played UCI o a scoreless draw, which was only the fifth in program history and first since a Oct. 25, 2009 contest at 19th-ranked West Texas A&M.
Junior goalkeeper
Kelsey Dombrowski was credited with the shutout – the fifth of her career – and her eight saves were her most since stopping 10 in an overtime loss last fall at Houston Baptist. In the final minute of the first overtime, Dombrowski saved a Lili Andrino shot and then watched her defense clear out one of six UCI corner kicks.
Irvine fired only two shots in the second OT, but Dombrowski stopped Brittany Nguyen's attempt in the 105th and with only two seconds remaining Kiana Palacios' header went above the crossbar.
For her performance Dombrowski received a Southland Conference Player of the Week honorable mention citation.
In last Friday's match played at Austin's Mike A. Myers Stadium, the Wildcats' offense unleashed itself against UTSA following back-to-back shutouts the previous weekend.
ACU's five goals were its most since a September 2014 match vs. UT Pan American and the combined eight goals were the most tallied in a Wildcats' match since a 5-4 overtime loss to Eastern New Mexico in 2007.
Junior
Natalie Throneberry scored the Wildcats' first goal of 2015 from inside the six off an assist from freshman
Sophie Standifer less than five minutes after UTSA grabbed the initial 1-0 .
The score remained knotted at halftime as each side registered only six shots and attempted one corner during the first 45 minutes.
Coming out of the break Standifer put the Wildcats ahead with a 14-yard strike and less than six minutes later
Lindsey Jones angled in a pass from midfielder
Maria Gomez.
The Roadrunners rallied to tie the score at 3-3, but their celebratory mood was short lived as
Kate Seay beat backup goalkeeper Isabella Sanchez on the Wildcats' ensuing possession for the game-winner. Sophomore
Megan Baer then provided an insurance goal at the start of the 71st minute, burying her shot in the middle of the net from 20-yards away.
