The Wildcats are back on the road this weekend heading to Corpus Christi after an offensive explosion on Sunday. ACU did split its matches last weekend, but ended on a high note with the win over Northwestern State.
Last Friday night, the Wildcats battled hard and had a tough 2-1 loss to the defending Southland Conference regular-season champions, Central Arkansas.
Senior Megan Baer scored her second goal of the season in the 36th minute, evening the score 1-1. She was assisted from freshman Isa Sanabria and Christina Arteaga.
Senior Forward Chantal Kinsey said the team won the game in most of the statistical categories.
“We had the opportunities and we outplayed them. It was just getting the ball back into the net was the struggle,” Kinsey said.
Central Arkansas scored the game-winning goal with less than five minutes left to play to give the Wildcats their second-straight loss.
But on Sunday, the Wildcats looked like a totally different team, dominating the Lady Demons with a 6-2 victory.
ACU’s victory raised its record to 5-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
Kinsey, who began her Wildcat career as a defender, is now playing forward and scored two goals to propel ACU to a 3-0 lead in the first half. She scored her first goal in the 29th minute and her second with 1:40 left in the first half, with a well-placed ball.
Junior Dylan Owens scored the Wildcats’ first goal of the game in the 15th minute with an assist from senior team captain Chloe Fifer, who placed the ball right in front of Owens.
Three minutes into the second half, Baer’s second goal of the weekend, gave ACU a 4-0 lead.
Northwestern State managed to get two goals in the 59th minute and 83rd minute, right before the game came to an end, but it wasn’t near enough.
ACU’s final two goals were scored by sophomore Samantha Vestal and freshman Christian Arteaga in the 68th and 82nd minute. Vestal escaped her defender and struck the ball into the net, while Arteaga displayed nice footwork and scored her fourth goal of the season.
“We had a couple tough losses, Friday and the Sunday before that, but I think with this win we will keep building off of this and keep moving forward,”said Kinsey, “We are in a really good position going forward and that we have a lot of confidence now and hopefully will keep putting the ball in the back of the net.”
The Wildcats will kick off with the Islanders Friday at 7 p.m., as they continue conference play. ACU defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-0 last season. Baer will look to stretch her goal-scoring streak to three, as she scored in the game last season against the Islanders.
