ABILENE – The ACU soccer team finished their final home match in a 1-1 draw against Utah Tech on Sunday at Elmer Gray Stadium. The Wildcats put forth an impressive offensive display, registering 22 shots with 16 of those coming in a strong second-half performance.
Utah Tech opened the scoring in the 73rd minute, but ACU wasted no time responding. Just five minutes later, Taylor Sarver found the back of the net, finishing off a well-placed assist from Baylie Simon to level the score.
"The team fought hard to get the equalizing goal and press on to try and find the game winner," said head coach Stephen Salas. "Taylor found a great upper 90 goal from a Baylie Simon assist. Our resilience to find the equalizer needs to push into our discipline in earlier stages of the game. We will continue to work on that in training and other areas moving forward."
Goalkeeper Lili Ross delivered a solid performance, making three key saves to help the Wildcats hold firm defensively. ACU edged Utah Tech in shots on goal 6-5 and matched them in corner kicks with five apiece.
"The backline and our team made a lot of good tackles and we brought that up at half," Salas said. "Lili and our goalkeepers continue to push each other and that was evident today in the performance. We continue to establish a culture of team first mentality and have seen growth in that. Going into our last regular season game we will continue to grow in our service, excellence, and discipline that transcends into this game and in life."
The draw moves ACU to 2-6-8 overall and 0-4-2 in conference play. The Wildcats head to Stephenville for their final conference game against Tarleton State on Oct. 26. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. (CT) and will be available to stream on
ESPN+.
