ABILENE – Abilene Christian University (2-3-6) soccer opened conference play against Seattle University Redhawks (6-2-3) Saturday night, falling short 3-1.
Seattle took the lead in the 26
th minute with a shot from Caroline Penner and an assist from U'i Kaaihue. Despite the Redhawks' many attempts,
Lili Ross had seven saves in the first half. ACU had one shot from
Malia Cerdon.
In the 53
rd minute, Seattle pushed their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Alana Lamb and assists from Hallie Bergford and Kait Raffensperger. Continuing to push the ACU defense, Seattle scored in the 71
st minute for a 3-0 lead.
Despite challenges, the Wildcats were able to fire out seven shots on goal in the second half. In the 88
th minute,
Aliyah Anderson found her way into the net with an assist from
Peyton Hill to make the final score 3-1.
"We were pleased with our poise on the last 20 minutes of each half after making adjustments to our shape and tactics,"
Stephen Salas, ACU head coach, said. "In the second half, after making some changes, we created more opportunities which led to a spectacular goal from
Aliyah Anderson and was setup by
Peyton Hill."
Even with Seattle's 19 shots (15 on goal), Ross showed exceptional resiliency with a total of 12 saves.
"Seattle is a top team who moved the ball well and scored two of their goals on set pieces, which we will need to clean up… We will train some new focuses based off the Seattle game to be our best on the road against defending WAC champions in Grand Canyon," Salas said. "I was particularly impressed with our team's resiliency throughout the game."
The Wildcats will continue their WAC play in Arizona against Grand Canyon University on Oct. 3. Game time is at 8 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+. Live Stats will also be available for the game.
