ABILENE - Abilene Chrisitan soccer improved to 2-0 vs. the Southland Conference this season following a 2-1 overtime victory over Nicholls Friday night at Elmer Gray Stadium. Sophomore
Dylan Owens was credited with the golden goal in the 94th minute for her second score of the year.
The Wildcats finished the match with 29 shots and consistently developed their attacks from the outside. And it was no different on the game-winner as junior midfielder
Chloe Fifer fired a cross from the far side inside the goalmouth, where senior forward
Natalie Throneberry redirected the ball to Owens with goalkeeper Roosa Hurmerinta out of position.
Hurmerinta posted a solid effort overall despite being tagged with the loss. She finished with 12 saves, eight of which were made in the second half as ACU looked to break a 1-1 deadlock. She also stopped one of Fifer's three shots one minute into the overtime period.
Nicholls (3-3-1, 0-1-1 Southland) fired 14 shots but there was only one short window in which they were the clear aggressors on offense, and that was at the start of the second half with the southeasterly wind at their back. The half started with the Wildcats ahead 1-0 and the Colonels were desperate to get their equalizer, blasting five shots within a span of four minutes - the last of which was a 20-yard diagonal stike by Jess Coates that zipped over the head of ACU goalkeeper
Sydney Newton and into the upper corner.
Prior to Coates' goal, which was her sixth of the year, Newton had to make two saves, including one on the ground after Kristy Helmers got behind the defense to set up a 1v1 situation. But after tying the score, the Colonels recorded just two additional shots in the 79th and 86th minutes, while ACU rifled the ball toward the goal 15 times with no luck.
Hurmerinta saved a majority of those shots with seven stops, while five sailed high or wide. Another two were blocked by the Nicholls' defense.
ACU ripped five shots in the first half before breaking the scoreless tie in the 32nd minute, as senior defender
Kelsie Roberts headed in a Fifer corner kick for the second time in as many matches. Roberts' marked Hurmerinta along the goal line, and as the ball approached she was able to get above the Nicholls netminder and head it into the netting.
For Fifer, she now leads the team and conference with seven assists and needs just two more to tie Julie Coppedge's single-season record of nine from 2010. Four of her seven assists have come during the past two conference matches.
The Wildcats (3-6-1, 2-0-0 Southland) return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. Southeastern Louisiana, which lost, 2-1, tonight at Incarnate Word to fall to 4-5-1 and 1-1 on the season.
