ABILENE – The Abilene Christian soccer team needed almost every minute allotted Sunday night, but the team finally broke through after 102 minutes of action against the UTEP Miners (1-1) at Elmer Gray Stadium when sophomore
Christina Arteaga rifled a 16-yard high diagonal that tipped off the hands of goalkeeper Alyssa Palacios 2:31 into the second overtime period.
Arteaga's goal was ACU's first of the season and the eighth of her career, securing a 1-0 victory for the Wildcats (1-1).
ACU's offense, led by Arteaga's six shots (three on goal) dominated much of the second half and overtime periods as evident by a 15-5 shot advantage, and it was following a Palacios goal kick that the Wildcats developed their game-winning strike.
Palacios' kick bounced inside the circle, from where freshman midfielder
Ashley Stamps picked the ball away from UTEP's Jojo Ngongo. Stamps then dribbled toward the touch line and evaded Ngongo once more before dropping the ball in behind the defense. Arteaga retrieved the ball at the edge of the 18-yard box, dribbled off her defender to fire a left-footed blast.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper
Rachel Johnson earned the win, tallying eight saves for her second career complete-game shutout. Palacios, meanwhile, dropped to 1-1 on the season despite making seven saves. One of Johnson's biggest stops came in the closing seconds of the first overtime when she jumped through a scrum in the goalmouth to punch out a corner kick. The Coppell native additionally made five saves in the first half, during which UTEP outshot ACU, 7-6.
The Wildcats' offense remained aggressive in the second period, collecting eight shots and three corner kicks, but couldn't skip the ball past Palacios and a challenging defensive line that denied quality looks from Arteaga, Stamps and
Brittney Harris. Stamps and Harris tied
Shay Johnson for second on the Wildcats with three shots each.
ACU will have a few days off until its next match, when it play host to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) on Friday, Aug. 24. The kickoff at Elmer Gray Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
