ABILENE – The Abilene Christian soccer team hits the pitch against McNeese Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the opening round of the Southland Conference Championship. The tournament will be hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and played at Jack Dugan Stadium.
"It is nice to be able to have the opportunity to play this year in the tournament after qualifying and not being able to go the last four years," head coach
Casey Wilson said. "It means a lot to the seniors who have paved the way for us to be here through the probation process."
The single-elimination tournament is composed of the conference's top-eight teams. Lamar enters Wednesday as the top seed followed by Stephen F. Austin and McNeese, while the Wildcats are tabbed No. 6.
Fourth-seeded Central Arkansas and No. 5 Houston Baptist meet in the match following the Wildcats and Cowgirls. No. 7 Sam Houston State faces its rivals from SFA in the 11 a.m. match, while the host Islanders close out the quarterfinal round with an 8 p.m. match vs. the top-seeded Cardinals.
Recent history does not bode well for Lamar as the last regular-season champion to repeat as the tournament champion was the 2012 SFA Ladyjacks. And since the Wildcats entered the league in 2013, the tournament either has been won by Southeastern Louisiana (2013, 2015) or Houston Baptist (2014, 2016).
The Lady Lions were seeded third and fourth during their championship seasons, while the Huskies came in as the second and fifth seeds.
This tournament marks ACU's first chance to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA postseason as a Division I program. The Wildcats have finished among the conference's top-six teams during all five of their years as Southland members, but couldn't compete for a NCAA Championship berth during their four-year transitional phase (2013-16).
Against the Cowgirls: The Wildcats and Cowgirls matched up earlier this season in Lake Charles, La. at Cowgirl Field. McNeese won 3-0 led by senior forward and 2017 Southland Conference Player of the Year Savannah LaRicci, who posted a first-half hat trick on the Wildcats.
Follow Along: Fans can follow all the action from the Southland Conference Tournament
here.
Coach's Quote: "There is a lot of parity in this conference and we have had many scoring opportunities in all of our conference games whether it was a win or loss. McNeese is a quality team and we look forward to having another opportunity against them on Wednesday," Wilson said.
Quick Kicks
- Freshman Christina Arteaga was named Freshman of the Year
- Junior Dylan Owens and Arteaga each received first team honors
- Owens scored the game winner against UTEP in overtime, giving ACU its first victory of the season
- Owens was named Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week for October 10
- Owens leads the team with eight goals, one assist and 17 points, ranking tied for fifth in the Southland in points
- Freshman Erin Smith has recorded 55 saves in 15 games
- Senior Megan Baer and sophomore Samantha Vestal lead the Wildcats with four assists each
- Sophomore Shay Johnson leads the team with 1,532 minutes this season
- The Wildcats six goals against Northwestern State is the most against a conference opponent since 2015 when ACU beat Lamar 6-2.
- 26 Wildcats have seen action on the pitch this season
- ACU has 15 returners and 15 newcomers on the 2017 roster
- This is head coach Casey Wilson's 11th year with the team. He is the architect and only head coach in program history. He also is one of 23 NCAA DI women's soccer coaches still with the team that they founded.
Schedule
Game 1: No. 2 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 7 Sam Houston State, 11 a.m.
Game 2: No. 3 McNeese vs. No. 6 Abilene Christian, 2 p.m.
Game 3: No. 4 Central Arkansas vs. No. 5 Houston Baptist, 5 p.m.
Game 4: No. 1 Lamar vs. No. 8 Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, 8 p.m.
