Women's Soccer | 9/15/2016 3:33:00 PM
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ABILENE - Abilene Christian begins its fourth season of Southland Conference competition Saturday night at 7 p.m. vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Both sides are in need of a clean slate after each experienced tough non-conference schedules.
The Wildcats won their first game of the fall two weeks ago Friday vs. Prairie View A&M but have since lost three straight to quality teams from No. 15 Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and SMU, while the Islanders have lost seven straight to begin the season and only have scored three times against 33 goals allowed.
ACU experienced an equally rough non-conference slate last season, but following a 1-1 deadlock at home vs. the Islanders, the Wildcats soon turned things around with a five-match conference winning streak. ACU went on to finish third in the league at 7-2-2 and were in contention for the regular-season title entering the final week of the season. The Islanders finished in the middle of the conference standings at 5-6.
The three previous meetings between the Wildcats and Islanders all have been close. ACU won their first match in 2013, 2-1, and then lost by the same score in 2014.
Several Wildcats are ranked among the league leaders going into this weekend. Attackers
Dylan Owens (18) and
Samantha Vestal (16) rank seventh and 10th in shots,
Chloe Fifer's three assists have her tied for fourth, and senior goalkeeper
Sydney Newton is third in GAA (1.18), fourth in save percentage (.818), and sixth in saves with 27.
