SAN ANTONIO - Sophomore
Dylan Owens scored 15 minutes into Friday night's match at Incarnate Word and again with 15 minutes to go as Abilene Christian soccer held on to beat the Cardinals, 2-1 at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium in concluding its 2016 season.
ACU finished its fourth year of NCAA competition with an overall record of 9-8-2 and registered its best record against the Southland Conference at 8-2-1 to place third for the second-consecutive year. First place Central Arkansas completed its regular-season tonight with an undefeated mark of 10-0-1 following a 2-0 win vs. Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin held onto second place after mauling their archrivals from Sam Houston State, 6-0.
Incarnate Word fell to 4-11-2 overall with the loss and 3-7-1 vs. the league.
ACU has been incredibly efficient on its corner kick chances throughout the conference season, and it was no different tonight as the Wildcats hit paydirt on their fourth attempt of the first half with Owens finishing
Chloe Fifer's delivery from the far post in the 16th minute. Fifer's assist was her eighth of the season, leaving her one shy of tying Julie Coppedge's single-season record from 2011.
The Cardinals, however, would tie the score at 1-1 several minutes before halftime when Brooke Hanson found Sam Batley for a one-timer inside the six-yard box.
The score remained deadlocked until the start of the 76th minute when
Sophie Standifer - playing for the first time since the Sept. 17 match vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - connected with Owens on an up field pass, that was booted in from the near side. Tonight marked the first multi-goal performance of Owen's career as she completed the fall with four goals and two assists.
From there the Wildcats had to hold on tight to their lead and benefited from a little luck along the way as back-to-back UIW shots in the 77th minute hit the post. ACU goalkeeper
Sydney Newton then made a save in the 84th minute and the Wildcats cleared one final Cardinal corner kick with 86 seconds remaining to preserve the victory.
Newton won seven matches this year with six shutouts and posted a stellar GAA of 0.89. She also saved 84 percent of the 237 shots she faced.
"It was a good win tonight," said head coach
Casey Wilson, whose team posted their first overall winning record since 2013. "I don't think it's ever easy here at UIW's field, and once again they played very well and gave us a tough game. I'm appreciative though of our team and the way we fought to find a way to win. Our seniors played an awesome final game and all of us coaches are very proud."
Newton was one of six seniors active on the pitch tonight along with
Natalie Throneberry,
Kate Seay,
Kelsie Roberts,
Alyssa Gerner and
Danielle Otto. ACU's graduating class also won it Senior Day match, 2-1, vs. McNeese back on Oct. 16 at Elmer Gray Stadium.
