ABILENE – North Texas' ability to kick the deep ball and interrupt ACU's passing lanes carried the Mean Green to a 2-0 victory in the Wildcats' home opener Friday night at Elmer Gray Stadium. The win lifted UNT's early-season record to 2-1, while the Wildcats slipped to 1-2 with a match at Arkansas coming up Sunday at 1 p.m.
North Texas goalkeeper Miranda Schoening and her teammates continually boomed the ball down field, hoping to hit an attacker midstride as she slipped through the defense. This plan first worked in the 24th minute; however, the Wildcats were spared an early deficit after reserve Cat Sebazco hit the post with ACU's netminder
Rachel Johnson well off the goalline.
Soon afterward the Mean Green was called offsides twice within a 30-second span, but following a Wildcat turnover in the 33rd minute, defender Tori Phillips booted a pass from the top of ACU's 18-yard box that landed just to the left of Taylor Torres, who was a good 15-20 yards ahead of the halfway line.
Torres settled the ball after three bounces, and ran with it for another 10 yards before firing a low line drive just inside the 18-yard box past Johnson, who hustled toward her in an effort to make the stop.
Neither side would score again prior halftime as UNT went into the break up, 1-0. And in the early stages of the second half the Wildcats again struggled to find scoring opportunities as they were held to only two shots leading up to North Texas' insurance goal in the 73rd minute.
Much like the Mean Green's first goal, their second strike also came from nowhere. Forward Natalie Newell possessed the ball just inside the far corner of the 18, but after seeing a pair of ACU defenders converge on her initial target Natalie McDonough, Newell dumped a pass back to a wide-open Brooke Lamp who crushed a 32-yard diagonal that sailed over Johnson's outstretched arms.
ACU put some heat on North Texas offensively in the final 10 minutes, but couldn't get anything past Schoening as she collected her second shutout of the season on five saves – four of which were made in the second half. Schoening's toughest stop came in the 81st minute following a
Megan Baer corner kick that first was headed out by a North Texas defender before being hammered back toward the goal from 10 yards out by
Shay Johnson.
Schoening knocked the ball to the ground, and despite bobbling it some, senior
Chloe Fifer was unable to kick it out of her grasp.
The Wildcats' were unlucky once more a few moments later. After Phillips whiffed on a clearance atop the 18,
Dylan Owens collected the ball, ran it down the side of the penalty box toward the six only to be met a defender who forced her to pass it back to
Christina Arteaga. The pass was slightly off target, which allowed the defense to regroup, and then Arteaga's missed wide with four opponents ahead of her.
Arteaga led the Wildcats with three shots, two of which were on goal, while
Shay Johnson,
Peyton Bucklew and Sam Vestal each recorded two shots. The Mean Green outshot ACU 16-14 overall, and registered a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal.
In her first start for ACU this season, redshirt sophomore
Rachel Johnson recorded seven saves, with four of those coming in the second half.
"North Texas is a tough team, but I felt we held our own," head coach
Casey Wilson said. "We were able to create chances and that's all we can ask for. But they were able to finish a couple and that was the difference."
The Wildcats conclude their weekend Sunday at 1 p.m. against Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. Fans can follow game action
here or online on the
SEC Network+.
