ABILENE – Another home match, another overtime victory. ACU soccer needed a little more than 90 minutes on Friday night in their non-conference matchup with the Vaqueros of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) at Elmer Gray Stadium. Senior
Dylan Owens scored the game's only goal two minutes into overtime, just pushing it past UTRGV's keeper Kinga Szemik, to cement the second-consecutive win for the Wildcats (2-1). ACU, who played in just two overtime matches in last year's regular season, is now 2-0 this week in such games.
Owens' goal was her first of the season and the 19th of her career, moving her into solo fourth place in ACU history. It was her 10th game-winning score as well, good for second all-time. The Willard, Mo. product has now tallied 47 career points, tied for fourth in Wildcat history.
ACU's offense had a slow start to the game once again, but would go on to take 12 shots in the final 47 minutes, including the lone shot in overtime.
Christina Arteaga's three shots led the team, but overall 10 different Wildcats tallied a shot attempt. Owens needed just one to put the game on ice.
ACU moved the ball into enemy territory, but UTRGV cleared it out to move the ball back to center line, where redshirt-sophomore
Megan Paul would collect it. Paul pushed it over to senior
Sophie Standifer, who moved around defenders and passed it off to
Samantha Vestal.
Vestal, at the halfway point between the center circle and the box, immediately sent it to the right side to
Chelsea Reedy, who with three defenders near her, gave off a perfect ball to Owens. On the play, Owens reacted immediately when the ball was passed to Reedy, taking off on an angle towards the right side of the box. With a defender behind her and Szemik charging towards the ball, Owens had one chance. She got to the ball first and took the right-footed shot immediately, rolled it past Szemik and tucked it inside the right post to win the game. Reedy was credited with the assist, the first of the season for ACU.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper
Rachel Johnson was once against outstanding in net, moving to 2-0 on the season after an eight-save night. It appeared Johnson would give up a goal in the first half, but a key offside call negated a would-be score for UTRGV (1-2). The Coppell native tallied four saves in each half of regulation, and was busy in the opening 45 minutes, as UTRGV held a 7-2 shot advantage on ACU.
The Wildcats trailed by one in the shot column, 15-14, but held a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks. The match was physical all night, and UTRGV was penalized twice with yellow cards from the officials.
ACU has a short turnaround this weekend, and will take off for Lubbock on Sunday, Aug. 26 for a date with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the John B. Walker Soccer Complex.
