BEAUMONT, Texas – The week-long trip down to southeast Texas was a sweet one for the ACU soccer team, culminating Sunday afternoon with its first Southland Conference Tournament championship with a 3-1 victory over #7 Stephen F. Austin. In just their second year of postseason eligibility, the Wildcats (15-5-1) powered through the competition at the LU Soccer Complex to earn their first trip to the NCAA Championships as an automatic-qualifying league champion. The women's soccer team is the first ACU Athletics' program to earn a spot in an NCAA Tournament at the Division I level.
WATCH PARTY INFORMATION
ACU will await its opponent and location for the 2018 NCAA Championships, and will have a watch party on Monday, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. The watch party will take place in the Club Level of Wildcat Stadium and is open to the public.
The NCAA Tournament Show gets underway at 3:30 p.m. on
NCAA.com.
ACU played the role of underdog through the first two games, and despite beating SFA in the regular season (1-0 in double overtime), played with a chip on its shoulder in the title match. The Wildcat defense, the staple of the team all season, did its thing once again, and the offense capitalized in a big way to post its second 3-1 victory of the tournament.
The first half began with a 4-1 shot advantage for the Ladyjacks (7-9-3), but from the 11th minute on, it was all Wildcats.
ACU struck first in the 31st minute when sophomore
Christina Arteaga scored her ninth of the season and first of the tournament. After the ball was shot out from the box by SFA,
Samantha Vestal gathered it on the right side, spun and sent it with her left foot into the box. Arteaga was there to gather, spin, and launch with her left foot, and sent a missal from right to left through the back of the net for the early lead.
From that moment on, the ball stayed on the Ladyjack side of the pitch for the majority of the rest of the half, and ACU took advantage again. The ball was cleared from the left side in the 35th minute, and alone in the middle of the field was senior
Caity Acosta. The veteran moved herself into position with one dribbled, shifted right, and fired a rocket off her right foot that was high-arcing and moving right to left. The ball just snuck past the reach of SFA goalkeeper Allyson Halliday into the top-left corner of the goal to increase the lead to 2-0.
The Wildcats led 10-4 in shot attempts, and registered the final six of the half. SFA had a key opportunity in the 11th minute, recording three shot attempts in a seven-second span. It began with a scramble in the box, and ACU packed in well, blocking the first two attempts. The final look went high, and the Ladyjacks could not capitalize. It was the best look for an opponent this season to score a first-half goal on ACU; the Wildcats have not allowed a goal in the first 45 minutes all season long.
Despite not registering a shot until the seventh minute, ACU took advantage of its chances later in the half to enter the locker room up two goals.
Arteaga was at it again in the second half, scoring her second goal of the tournament and team-leading 10th of the season.
Chelsea Reedy placed a header down the left sideline for Vestal, who regathered and placed the ball into the box. Moving from right to left, Arteaga took the shot right away as she met the ball with her left foot, and it was blocked by the Ladyjacks. Off the deflection, the sophomore turned her body to face the net, and sent a shot off her right foot to the right side of the goal for the score and a 3-0 lead.
SFA scored its lone goal in the 72nd minute, when Teia Haynes and Breanna Moore combined to get the ball to teammate Katie Jennings. Jennings pushed it across for her second goal of the year. It was too-little too-late for the Ladyjacks at that point, as the ACU defense held strong in the final 18 minutes.
The defense was the story of the season and the tournament. Redshirt junior
Rachel Johnson continued her stretch of stellar play, allowing just two goals in the post-season. Johnson had great defensive play in front of her Sunday; she only faced two shots on goal, tallying her lone save of the title match.
Four Wildcats were named to the All-Tournament Team, including Tournament MVP
Shay Johnson. The junior scored a pair of goals in the tournament, and recorded four more shot attempts in the championship match. Acosta, Arteaga, and defender
Michelle Mulrooney joined Johnson on the team, and along with
Erin Smith last season, are the only five players to be named to the Southland All-Tournament squad.
ACU doubled SFA in shot attempts (18-9), including a 6-2 advantage in shots placed on goal. The Wildcats led 4-1 in corners, won 11-8 in the foul category as well. Individually, Arteaga's five shots led the way, while Johnson added four and
Megan Paul recorded three. Vestal tallied the teams' lone assist in the match, and added a pair of shots as well.
