The Wildcats were on the road this past weekend meeting Louisiana Tech on Friday, resulting in a 1-0 loss, and Grambling State on Sunday, resulting in a 3-0 win.
Going into Friday against Louisiana Tech, ACU held a 1-1 record, winning 4-0 against University of Texas at El Paso and losing 5-1 against the University of North Texas.
On Friday, right from the beginning, the Wildcats made an early push towards the goal. Brennan Reuland, senior midfielder from Arlington, took a shot within the first minute of the game followed by Natalie Jones, senior midfielder from Lubbock, who quickly ran the ball and also tried for a shot.
“We were building off of that UTEP game, you know, with definitely a shot of confidence,” head coach Casey Wilson said. “We went into Louisiana Tech with a lot of confidence and we got a lot of good looks in the first 15-20 minutes. We just weren’t able to finish the chances early.”
In the first half, ACU led Louisiana Tech in shots 7-1 but were unable to find the back of the net with two shots put on goal. Yet in the second half, Louisiana Tech picked up the pace and held out in front of the Wildcats with nine shots to ACU’s two.
68 minutes in, Louisiana Tech junior Alma Cedefors managed to sink the ball right past Wildcats goalkeeper, Lili Ross, freshman from Beaumont, to put them up 1-0. ACU could not bounce back from the goal, resulting in the final score, of 1-0.
On Sunday, ACU met Grambling State in hopes to come back from their Friday loss.
“We just have to keep the right mindset,” Wilson said. ” There were some tough conditions on Sunday with the heat and the long grass but again we stuck to what we were trying to do and it worked out for us.”
The Wildcats started off strong once again in the first half by leading in shots 9-2. With five minutes left to go in the first half, Lox Neves, freshman forward from Palmyra, Utah, drew a foul, giving ACU a free kick. Ellen Joss, graduate defender from Louisville, Kentucky, was able to tuck the free kick away and put it in the back of the net, giving the Wildcats the lead going into halftime, 1-0.
Coming out of half time, ACU was ready to put the match away. Not even a minute into the second half, Jordan Michie, senior forward from Arlington, gave the assist to Caylen Wright, senior forward from Joshua, where she was able to slip it past the goalkeeper, giving the Wildcats a a 2-0 lead.
“A lot of our forwards and midfielders are due right now,” Wilson said. “So it’s nice to have them really starting to gel within the system and like I said it’s just a matter of time before they start getting hot as well.”
In minute 51, Jones assisted Reuland in an straight shot to the net, shutting out the game with the final score of 3-0.
The Wildcats head home to take on Louisiana on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Elmer Gray Stadium, streaming on ESPN+.
