NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Abilene Christian's chances for winning the Southland Conference regular-season title suffered a major blow Friday night after falling 3-2 in a closely contested match at Stephen F. Austin's soccer field.
The win pushed the Ladyjacks (7-2) ahead of the Wildcats (6-2-1) in the league standings, however, Central Arkansas (8-0-1) won again to maintain a four-point lead on the league with only two matches remaining.
The Bears tonight rallied from 2-1 deficit to beat Southeastern Louisiana, 3-2. Meanwhile, in Natchitoches, La., Northwestern State tied Nicholls, 0-0, to move into a tie for third place with the Wildcats.
ACU scored first on a
Natalie Throneberry goal in the 29th minute and received a header strike late from
Shay Johnson off a 72nd minute corner kick, but SFA had an immediate response for each of the ACU goals. Throneberry's goal was her fourth of the year and assisted by
Leslie Snider
Less than two minutes after the Snider goal broke the scoreless tie, Kelly Ann Craig netted her fifth goal of the season and sent the teams into halftime tied at 1-1.
SFA then took its first lead of the match on Hannah Barker's ninth goal of the year in the 69th minute, however, that lead only last all of 99 seconds, as the Wildcats drummed up enough offensive pressure to create one of their four second-half corner kicks. Throneberry booted the ball square into the goalmouth from where Johnson butted it in for her fourth goal of the fall.
The two sides remained tied until the 83rd minute when Hailey Hunt beat goalkeeeper
Sydney Newton in a one-vs-one situation after receiving a pass from Amanda Doyle. ACU fired one last shot as time expired looking for the equalizer, but Johnson's shot sailed high.
"It was a tough game tonight," said head coach
Casey Wilson. "SFA is a quality team and we made a couple mistakes, which they capitalized on. We also had a corner kick that appeared to cross the plain of the goal line that both teams reacted to but was not called by the referee ... we had our chances though and that's all we can ask."
Both teams took 11 shots with ACU placing seven of theirs on frame, five of which were saved by Lillie Ehlert. ACU additionally held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Barker led her side with five shots, while Johnson led the Wildcats with three.
The Wildcats return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. at Sam Houston State, which tonight lost 4-1 to Incarnate Word.
