ABILENE – Senior
Chantal Kinsey came off the bench to score two goals that helped carry Abilene Christian soccer to a dominating 6-2 victory over Northwestern State Sunday at Elmer Gray Stadium.
The six scores tied ACU's single-match record for most goals vs. a DI opponent (Oct. 16, 2015 at Lamar) and was one shy of tying their season high of seven set last month at UT Permian Basin. The victory also lifted the Wildcats' overall and league records to 5-7 overall and 3-2, while the Lady Demons fell to 5-7 and 1-4.
Kinsey, who began her Wildcat career as a defender, scored her two goals on three attempts and provided the Wildcats with a 3-0 lead going into halftime. Her first goal in the 29th minute came from the ground of the goalmouth as she booted her own rebound past Lady Demon goalkeeper Alex Latham, who was looking to wrap up the loose ball at the far post. Then with with 1:40 left in the half, she finished a beautiful endline service from freshman Brittany Harris.
The two-goal match was the first of Kinsey's career, second this year for the Wildcats (
Mary Moore vs. UTPB), and the 34th in Wildcat history.
Junior
Dylan Owens scored the first of ACU's six goals in the 15th minute with the assist coming from senior team captain
Chloe Fifer, who perfectly tapped the ball in front of Owens. And less than three minutes after the start of the second half senior
Megan Baer's second goal of the weekend made it a 4-0 game. Baer settled a ball that deflected off a defender and hammered it into the netting from well beyond the 18-yard box.
Northwestern State eventually broke the Wildcats' shutout bid in the 59th minute when Gabriella Gamboa hit the upper 90 from the back of the 18, and with seven minutes left in regulation, Cache' Haley shook off a defender and beat goalkeeper Erin Smith with a sharp diagonal that made it a 6-2 game.
ACU's two other goals of the second half were unassisted strikes by
Samantha Vestal and Christian Arteaga in the 68th and 82nd minutes, respectively. Vestal successfully eluded her defender along the endline before striking a ground laser into the far post, and Arteaga showed off some nice foot work in scoring her fourth goal of the season, dribbling through several defenders before beating Latham with a rifle shot from just inside the six.
Arteaga now leads the team with 10 points, coming on four goals and two assists. Vestal's goal was her second of the season.
The Wildcats outshot the Lady Demons 18-11, including 9-4 on goal with Vestal leading her side with four shots. ACU additionally recorded nine corner kicks and were called offsides 15 times as the offense never once slowed down during the full 90 minutes of action.
ACU continues conference play next weekend when they head to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a Friday match at 7 p.m. The Wildcats are off next Sunday.
