WACO, Texas – Abilene Christian held its own Thursday night in the regular-season opener at Betty Lou Mays Field against the No. 15 Bears of Baylor University. Despite falling in defeat 2-0 to the defending Big 12 Tournament champions, the Wildcats showed they can play in the first regular-season meeting between the schools.
"I think over the course of the last week we really got better defensively, and we showed it tonight," said head coach
Casey Wilson. "Overall, we were really pleased with our defensive effort. We showed the confidence to be able to play with a quality Big 12 team tonight, and that bodes well for us for sure."
The Bears would eventually break through in the 58th minute, when Maddie Algya scored the game's first goal. The ball was crossed into the box by Jackie Crowther, and Taylor Moon then headed it to Algya who put it through the net. BU led 1-0, and would add to it late.
In the 87th minute, Moon used a breakaway and chipped it over goalkeeper
Erin Smith's head to put the game on ice, 2-0. Baylor's defense was too much for ACU, holding the Wildcats to just four shots.
In the first half, the numbers appeared to be all Baylor, as the Bears outshot the Wildcats 7-2. However, ACU showed it can play, keeping the game scoreless through the first 45 minutes. The Wildcats controlled the ball on the opponent side of the pitch through the early portion of the contest, and earned the first opportunity of the night on a corner kick from
Chelsea Reedy, but BU defended nicely.
Baylor seemed to have an easy goal in the fifth minute, but a scramble in front of the goal allowed Smith to defend her net and clear it at the last second. The Bears put together a string of good offensive sets in the middle of the period, but Smith denied multiple chances, keeping the home team off the board.
In a scoreless first period, ACU led 3-1 in corners despite trailing in the shots column, and held a significant edge in fouls, 7-3. Smith tallied a pair of saves in the opening period.
"Overall, I thought we handled the ball better than they did," added Wilson. "And I thought we created stuff throughout the middle, but we just weren't able to get the quality shots we wanted. Overall, though, we thought we did the things we wanted. It's just a matter of executing our chances."
Baylor controlled the ball in the opening minutes of the second half, but Smith would add another save in the 57th minute, forcing a corner. Nothing came of the opportunity for the Bears, as once again the Wildcat defense took a stand.
Offensively, ACU's lone chance of the second half came from
Christina Arteaga, but a save from Hannah Parrish kept the Wildcats off the board.
For the night, Smith finished with four saves, as her team was outshot 8-2 in the second half and 15-4 in total. ACU held a 4-3 edge in corners for the evening, and forced 15 Baylor fouls as well.
Reedy,
Samantha Vestal, and Arteaga recorded the three shots on the night for the visitors.
The Wildcats will return to Elmer Gray Stadium for the home opener Sunday, Aug. 19 against the UTEP Miners. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
