The Wildcats season came to an end with a tough ending on Wednesday afternoon as they fell 2-1 to the McNeese Cowgirls in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Southland Conference.

ACU was able to get a lead in the second half, but McNeese managed to score twice in 11 minutes to take the lead. 

It was a scoreless first half and it was not until the 58th minute when the first goal of the game came from freshman Caylen Wright who received an assist, her sixth, from junior captain Christina Arteaga, giving ACU a 1-0 lead over the Cowgirls.

The next goal came from McNeese’s Rachel Young in the 63rd minute, tying the game 1-1.

McNeese’s Mariah Rueles managed to score the last goal of the game, in the 73rd minute, putting McNeese up 2-1 over ACU. 

ACU and McNeese both had four shot attempts in the first half of the game, while ACU led 3-0 in shots on goal. 

ACU led in shots, 10-7 in the game, including 6-2 on frame. 

Sophie Standifer, Rachel Johnson, Shay Johnson, Brooke Lenz, Samantha Vestal, Peighton Starch and Micheele Mulrooney all played their final game as Wildcats. All of these women had a combined 43 wins and a 2018 Southland Conference Tournament Championship. 

Next year, the Wildcats will bring back 28 players including nine juniors, seven sophomores and 12 freshmen.

The Wildcats finished the season third in the league at 8-2-1 and 12-5-2 overall. 

Head Coach Casey Wilson shared insight on Wednesday’s semifinal match.

 “It was our third-straight year playing McNeese in the first round of the tournament. We had our opportunities today and were not able to take care of our chances. We had a couple of breakdowns and mistakes that hurt us in the second half,” Wilson said. “This has been one of the best teams we had at ACU in 13 years. We had two key players out due to injury, Megan Paul and Shay Johnson-we definitely missed them out there today.”