THIBODAUX, La. – The ACU soccer team made a statement Friday afternoon at the Nicholls Soccer Complex with a resounding 8-0 win over the Nicholls Colonels. The Wildcats (6-2-1, 2-0 SLC) set a new Division I program record in the victory, and got a career performance from
Emily Heidman in the victory as well. ACU scored four times in each half, and dominated from start to finish in the win.
The Goals
- Redshirt sophomore
Emily Heidman scored 20 minutes into the match with a little help from
Christina Arteaga. Heidman sent it through the top of the net for what was then her first goal of the season. She was not done.
- Heidman backed it up three minutes later with a score through the lower left portion of the net to make it 2-0 ACU.
- Arteaga, the junior from Pflugerville, Texas, scored her fourth of the season with a perfect ball in the top right corner to push the lead to 3-0 in the 26th minute.
- The fourth goal in an eight-minute span was capped off by
Samantha Vestal, who took a pass from Arteaga and used the top left corner to make it 4-0 at halftime. Vestal also was not done scoring.
- Freshman
Caylen Wright joined in on the fun in the second half, scoring in the 54th minute on a strike in the top right corner of the net to make it 5-0.
- It took a little bit of time, but Heidman earned her hat trick in the 72nd minute with a goal to push the lead to 6-0.
- Arteaga was at it again in the 75th minute after taking a pass from freshman
Natalie Jones. Arteaga matched Jones with her fifth goal of the season, both leading the team in that category.
- Vestal capped the offensive explosion in the 79th minute with a score in the top left corner of the net to make it 8-0. Jones earned her second assist of the evening.
The Numbers
- It was the fourth two-score game of Arteaga's brilliant career, and the second this season. She did so against Southwest on Aug. 30 in the home opener.
- Vestal picked up her first multi-score game of her career, and now has three this season, also a career-best.
- Heidman's hat trick is the first for ACU in its Division I era, and the first since
Andrea Carpenter in 2010.
- ACU's eight goals is the most in its Division I era as well. The Wildcats eclipsed what they did at UT Permian Basin in 2017 (seven scores). The overall program record is 14 goals, when the team did so against Southwest in its first season in 2007.
- The 36 shots for the second consecutive game are the third-most in program history, and the second-most since joining Division I.
- It is the first two-assist game for Arteaga, who now has four for the season and 11 for her career.
- It was also the first two-assist game of
Natalie Jones' career, and she matches Arteaga with a team-best four this season.
- ACU outshot Nicholls 18-2 in each half, leading 36-4 in that category for the game. The four total shots faced is the second-fewest in ACU's Division I history.
- Arteaga led the way with 10 shot attempts, the second-most of her career.
- Heidman's six shot attempts are a career-best.
- Vestal and Jones each recorded four shots, while Wright and
Shay Johnson each tallied three.
-
Rachel Johnson was able to relax in the net, tallying two saves on four shots faced.
Head Coach Casey Wilson
"It was a good team win. We had been specifically working on a few things this week and the ladies bought in and were really focused on taking care of those items."
Up Next
- The Wildcats will wrap the Louisiana trip on Sunday, Sept. 29 with a matchup against the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions at 1 p.m. in Hammond, La.
