The Wildcats (2-2-1) met Louisiana (1-1-3) this past weekend, which ended in a 1-1 draw, with the game being cut off with 15 minutes left due to lightning.
ACU went in prepared for the competition the Ragin’ Cajuns were going to bring. With the previous Grambling State win, the Wildcats held to their momentum and went into this game strong.
“I think the game started a little slow,” head coach Casey Wilson said. “We definitely got into the game, you know, we got that first goal. We did let that ball, you know, right after that the long injury delay, we did let that ball get behind us there.”
The aggressive strategy started off from the beginning of the game. Within the first 15 minutes of the game, there were five fouls and six shots tallied between the two teams.
In the 16th minute, Brennan Reuland, senior midfielder from Arlington, was carrying the ball across the field when she passed it towards the left side to Chayse Thorn, sophomore forward from Rowlett, where she took control and sinked it in the right corner of the goal. This tallied Thorn’s third goal of the season, tieing her previous seasons overall goal total.
“Chayse is tough to handle,” Wilson said. “Sometimes when she gets around the corner, there with her left foot, you know, she’s able to put that ball in the back post.”
Less than four minutes later, Louisiana’s Karleen Bedre, senior forward from Norco, California, scored off of a header as the ball was crossed in front of the goal. This tied up the game, 1-1.
With 15 minutes left in the game, rain rolled in and caused a lighnting delay for over an hour when officials decided to call the game.
The Wildcats trailed the entire game in shot attempts, 13-8, but led in shots on goal, 4-2. Natalie Jones, senior midfielder from Lubbock, and Thorn both tallied two shot attempts each, leading the team out of eight total shots. Lili Ross, freshman goalkeeper from Beaumont, made three saves in the net, only allowing one to go through.
“I think its just a matter of time,” Wilson said. “Like I said, hopefully, as we get further in closer to conference, we really start gelling with getting more balls on frame and maybe thats gonna be our time to start putting them in.”
The Wildcats next take on the Prairie View A&M Panthers (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Elmer Gray Stadium, streaming on WAC International.
