After a 2-1 victory Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, the Wildcats take on McNeese State and Lamar this weekend.
Junior forward Dylan Owens was a one-woman wrecking crew against the Islanders, scoring ACU’s two goals within the first 10 minutes of the match. Owen’s first goal came in the fifth minute after senior Chloe Fifer sent her a through ball. Five minutes later Owens received another through pass, this time from sophomore Brooke Lenz, and nailed the ball into the back of the net.
Owens said her goals against the Islanders and this year have been a result of great passing from her teammates.
“This season I came in not really emphasizing scoring. I think that as a whole we kind of just were working together as a team,” Owens said.
Owen’s tied her season-high from 2015, for goals in a season with six goals. Her two-goal scoring game was the team’s third of the 2017 campaign.
With the win, ACU improved to 4-2 in Southland Conference play, while the Islanders fell to 1-4-1. The Wildcats will look to carry momentum from last Friday’s victory into the weekend match ups against McNeese and Lamar, each of who are tied atop the conference with 5-1 records.
The matches will be the team’s second and final game of a three-game road trip. Head coach Casey Wilson said his team is experienced on the road.
“We know that long trips are tiring and can take a lot out of you,” Wilson said. “They have an idea what the mindset needs to be, how we travel and how we break our trip down to be ready to play the game.”
A season ago, ACU faced these two teams in reverse order, taking on Lamar and then McNeese. The Wildcats picked up wins in both of those matches, with a score of 2-1.
This weekend’s competition will feature the second-ranked scoring team in the conference in Lamar, who averages 2.14 goals per game. And the top-ranked defense in the Southland in McNeese, who boasts nine shutouts and has allowed just five goals in 13 games.
“In our four-year history against them, we lost to them 1-0 the first two years, then the last two years we won on a penalty kick in overtime, so McNeese has definitely been one of the tougher opponents we’ve had in the conference the last four years,” Wilson said.
ACU is third in the conference in goals per game at 1.92, but ranks just 10th in goals allowed at 2.04 per contest. The Wildcats have won twice as many games on the road this season, posting a 4-5 record away from Elmer Gray. But the team has played just four home games, in which it is 2-2.
