The Wildcats were back on the road this weekend to take on Oklahoma State and SMU, but fell in each game, 2-0 and 6-1.
“OSU was a big, fast and physical team that relied on those aspects for their game. Whereas we are a tactical, smaller, possession type team,” said sophomore Caity Acosta. “It’s always a good game when both types of teams play each other. We were dealing with their force but couldn’t get as much of an attack as we wanted.”
The Cowgirls’ offensive output came in the 33rd minute off a corner and in the the 52nd minute from a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced in.
The Wildcats took a total of five shots against OSU, but, senior Danielle Otto was the only able to get a shot on frame. Senior goalkeeper Sydney Newton stopped a total of ten shots moving her season total to 27 saves.
“We are playing well against these big schools, but it comes down to if we show up or not,” said sophomore Dylan Owens. “We have learned so much in pre-season and we have stuff to work on, but we have girls who truly care and I think if we all have the same mindset we will do well in conference.”
After the Wildcats game in Oklahoma they visited SMU on Sunday.
Although ACU struggled to figure out SMU defensively, sophomore Sophie Standifer ended the Mustangs’ two-game scoreless streak against Southland Conference opponents in the 62nd minute.
“I think we were able to see the areas we were struggling in such as our communication and completing simple passes,” said freshman Brooke Lenz. “Hopefully we use this game as an opportunity to learn and get better at the certain weaknesses that were seen.”
ACU took a total of seven shots, with the lone goal serving as the only shot on frame. Senior goalkeeper Kelsey Dombrowski put up a total of five saves in 56 minutes of work.
SMU’s Allie Thorton led the way offensively, recording a hat trick and giving her an impressive seven goals on the season. Vanessa Valadez put up two goals while Robyn Maurer added one more to sum up the rest of SMU’s offense output.
“We’ve started to come full circle with the things we needed to improve on during our non-conference games,” said Standifer. “We know we’re a good team and now it’s time to prove it.”
The losses drop ACU to 1-6-1 on the season, as they begin Southland Conference play Saturday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
