ABILENE – The Abilene Christian soccer team scored two second-half goals to defeat Stephen F. Austin 2-0 on its Senior Day Sunday afternoon at Elmer Gray Stadium. The Wildcats recognized its five seniors:
Megan Baer,
Peyton Bucklew,
Emily Duke,
Chloe Fifer and
Chantal Kinsey prior to this afternoon's contest.
With this afternoon's victory the Wildcats improved to 7-10 on the season and 5-5 Southland Conference. The Ladyjacks fell to 10-7 overall and 7-3 within the SLC after suffering its first series loss to ACU through five meetings dating back to 2013.
"Today was a great win," head coach
Casey Wilson said. "Stephen F. Austin is always a quality team. We played a solid all around team game today and I'm very proud of this group."
Junior
Dylan Owens recorded her seventh goal of the season in the 60th minute to break a scoreless tie.
Chelsea Reedy crossed the ball from the far side of the field to find Owens inside the six-yard box who headed one past SFA keeper Allyson Smith at the near post. The assist was the first of Reedy's career.
Senior
Chloe Fifer added an insurance goal for the Wildcats 12 minutes later to make it a 2-0 match. The McKinney native scored her second goal of the season for the Wildcats after tracking down a loose ball outside the 18-yard box after it had been deflected by a pair of SFA defenders standing in the half circle. Fifer's diagonal was sharp line drive that hit inside the near post.
ACU outshot SFA 18-7, including 11-1 in the first half even with the wind it its face. The Wildcats best chance to score in the first half came when
Brooke Lenz aimed a shot toward the left corner of the goal from 20 yards out, but SFA goalkeeper Allyson Smith jumped and got a hand on the ball for her fourth save of the half. She would finish with six saves, while ACU's
Erin Smith made three for her second shutout of the season.
Owens led ACU with four shots take, followed by Arteaga who had three shots. Lenz put both of her shots on target but couldn't get the ball to cross the line.
The Wildcats conclude their 2017 regular season at Incarnate Word on Friday at 7 p.m. as they look to extend their streak of winning conference seasons to a fifth-consecutive season. ACU's win today moved the Wildcats back into sixth place in the Southland Conference, one point ahead of Sam Houston State (4-4-1) and four points ahead of both Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-6-1) and Nicholls (3-6-1).
