Southland Conference Championship Bracket | Tournament Page
SAN ANTONIO – The Abilene Christian soccer team ended its regular season on a high note, beating Incarnate Word 4-2 Friday night at Benson Stadium. With tonight's victory the Wildcats improved to 8-10 overall and 6-5 against the league in assuring themselves the sixth seed in next week's Southland Conference Championship.
ACU's first-round opponent at Corpus Christi next Wednesday at 2 p.m. is third-seeded McNeese, which blanked the Wildcats 3-0 earlier this month in Lake Charles. The Cowgirls (12-5-1, 8-3) tonight lost to Lamar for the regular-season championship and slipped into third because of its head-to-head loss vs. second-seeded Stephen F. Austin (11-7, 8-3).
Incredibly, the Ladyjacks and Wildcats are the only two Southland Conference teams to post winning records against the league the past five seasons since ACU entered the league in 2013. The Wildcats also have yet to lose a D1 contest to their old rivals from Incarnate Word, having gone unbeaten vs. the Cardinals over their past six meetings (5-0-1).
And tonight four Wildcats – representing all four academic classifications – put a point the board in dropping UIW's overall and conference records to 2-13-1 and 1-9-1 SLC.
Sophomore
Shay Johnson and senior
Megan Baer each notched first half goals in giving ACU a 2-1 lead going into halftime. Johnson finished a pass from Baer inside the six-yard box for the match's first goal in the 26th minute. Baer later broke a 1-1 tie with a penalty kick blasted past UIW keeper Katrina Buck with 56 seconds remaining before the break.
ACU's offense didn't let up after the intermission in scoring two additional second-half goals. Junior
Dylan Owens, who was firing all night with six shots (four on goal), hammered one past Buck in the 60th minute for her team-leading eighth goal of the season, and with 14 minutes left in regulation Arteaga provided a huge insurance goal after UIW closed the deficit to 3-2.
Sam Batley scored UIW's second goal in the 71st minute after booting back her rebound off a missed PK (crossbar), which was one of only four shots taken by the Cardinals. UIW earlier scored on a free kick taken by Brooke Hanson in the 34th minute.
"It was a good way to finish the regular season," head coach
Casey Wilson said. "We had a lot of good opportunities throughout the game and want to take this momentum into next week's tournament."
ACU outshot UIW 14-4 overall, including an 8-1 margin in the first half (9-4 shots on goal). Senior
Chloe Fifer put up three shots and Baer added two more.
All four of tonight's goal scorers also finished with double-digit point totals on the season. Owens led the Wildcats with 18 points during the regular season followed by Arteaga with 16, Baer with 12 and Johnson with 11. Baer also is tied with sophomore Sam Vestal for the team's lead in assist with four.
In the final regular-season conference stat rankings, Owens finished tied for fifth in points and tied for second in goals scored - five of which were game-winners. Baer and Vestal tied for 10th in assists, while Arteaga's point and goal totals are tied for eighth.
Owens' eight goals are a career season high and she needs one more point to tie her freshman year total of 18 (2015). Her 45 career points rank her seventh all-time at ACU, and 18 goals are tied for fourth with Lyndsey Womack and Krysta Grimm.
