ODESSA – Abilene Christian soccer enjoyed its most productive offensive match of the young season Tuesday evening, thumping former NCAA DII rival Texas Permian Basin, 7-1. Tonight's match was added to the schedule just last week to make up for the two cancelled contests at Prairie View and Texas Southern, which were lost due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey.
The Wildcats (2-3) controlled the entire match, placing 20 of 29 shots on goal and held the shutout until the final minute when Lauren Marenco found the left side of the goal from outside the 18-yard box. The Falcons (1-2) only got off five shots against ACU's new 3-5-2 alignment and placed just two shots on frame as freshman goalkeeper
Haleigh Heath earned the easy victory in her first collegiate start.
ACU scored five times in the first half. Sophomore
Shay Johnson scored her first goal of the season in the 12th minute after heading in a
Samantha Vestal corner kick. Vestal then assisted on a strike by
Dylan Owens less than 30-seconds later, giving ACU a 2-0 lead.
Senior
Megan Baer then tapped one across the line in the 24th minute, finishing an Owens' rebound that hit off the gloves of Falcon netminder Chenoa Crites.
The next Wildcat goals came less than two minutes apart and both were booted in by freshman
Mary Moore. She scored her first collegiate goal in the 38th minute, when she shot the ball from the right side to find the upper left corner of the goal post. Moore then redirected a
Baylee Hux pass, which was deflected in front of the goal.
Moore's two-goal game was the Wildcats' first since Owens accomplished the same feat at the end of last October vs. Incarnate Word. Five Wildcats have pulled off hat tricks, and Moore is the 33rd player in ACU history with a two-goal performance.
Vestal, meanwhile, became the 21st Wildcat with two assists in a single match.
ACU continued to apply pressure in the early stages of the second half and converted their first corner kick opportunity at the start of the 47th minute when sophomore and Spring native
Brooke Lenz netted her first career goal off the long-distance assist from Baer. Senior
Chantal Kinsey then scored ACU's final goal in the 72nd minute off a penalty kick.
ACU's seven goals were its most during the DI era and second most in team history. The Wildcats scored 14 times vs. Southwest during their inaugural year of 2007 and netted six goals two years ago at Lamar.
The Wildcats conclude non-conference action this weekend, played Friday at 7 p.m. at Oral Roberts and Sunday 1 p.m. at Oklahoma State.
