ABILENE – The 2019 Southland Conference preseason favorite Wildcats got their league schedule started on the right foot Friday night at Elmer Gray Stadium. After a slow start offensively, ACU (5-2-1, 1-0 SLC) got rolling with three goals in an eight-minute span in the first half to take a big lead into the break. The Wildcats finished it off with another score, winning 4-1 over the Houston Baptist Huskies (1-7, 0-1 SLC). Four different players scored in the game for ACU, giving them a well-deserved rest over the final two days of the weekend.
The Goals
- Freshman
Jordan Michie scored the first goal of her promising career in the 33rd minute. After a goal was called off due to a hand ball, Michie made sure this one counted after taking a pass from
Christina Arteaga, and scoring off a header.
- Veteran
Shay Johnson adds to her brilliant senior season thus far with a score in the 37th minute. Freshman
Natalie Jones fed her the ball on the left side, and Johnson gathered, spun, and scored from 10 yards away with a brilliant goal, the fourth of her season.
- Jones was at it again with another assist in the 41st minute, but this time she found a different senior in
Samantha Vestal. Vestal scored the first of the year to push the lead to 3-0 in just an eight-minute gap.
- HBU got on the board in the 58th minute with a goal from Xya Balderas.
- Jones did it herself in the 69th minute, taking a pass from senior
Peighton Starch and scoring her team-leading fifth goal of the season. The score gave her four points for the night.
The Numbers
- It was a 55-shot night between the two teams, with ACU leading 36-19. The Wildcats had 19 attempts in the first half and added 17 more in the second half. The 36 is the most for ACU this season, and the 19 is the most in any half.
- ACU led 8-4 in corner kicks, and forced seven Husky fouls.
- Redshirt senior
Rachel Johnson gets the first win in net of her final season as a Wildcat. The Coppell native tallied six saves in the victory.
- Arteaga led the way with six shot attempts, while Michie, Jones, and
Sophie Standifer each added five. Altogether, 14 different Wildcats tallied a shot attempt.
- ACU is now 5-1-1 in Southland Conference openers since re-joining the league in 2013.
- The Wildcats are now 5-2 all-time against HBU, and got their revenge after falling 1-0 in double overtime in Houston last season. ACU is now 4-0 all-time in series in games played in Abilene.
Up Next
- ACU gets a Sunday free of games this weekend, but will return to the pitch next Friday, Sept. 27 when it travels to Thibodaux, La. for a matchup with the Nicholls Colonels. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m.
