The ACU women’s soccer team will begin its seven conference games on Saturday when it hosts Seattle University.
The Wildcats will enter conference play with a 2-2-6 record. Despite having six ties this season, a spot in the Western Athletic Conference tournament is still within reach. To qualify for the tournament, they must finish in the top six in the WAC standings.
“Our goal is to aim to make top four, but it’s just being mission minded as a whole team, and we’re working as a collective to refocus,” said Head Coach Stephen Salas. “It’s a great opportunity with Seattle to have them at home and to move forward to that mission.”
Every team starts with a 0-0 conference record, and if the Wildcats can play well in their next seven games, then they will secure a spot in the tournament.
The road to making the tournament begins on Saturday against a tough opponent in Seattle, which holds the No. 1 spot in the WAC standings. This season, Seattle has won against a top 60 opponent, Oregon State, 4-1.
“We had a really close game last year, and we’re a better team this year,” Salas said. “So, for us it’s just organizing the team to prepare them with our attack. Honor them as opponents and preparing to just have different defending schemes. Then just the mentality piece of playing at home in our first conference game just brings an excitement and a joy to our team.”
A position that the Wildcats hope will be a standout during conference play is goalkeeper. This season, four goalkeepers have played because it is a competitive position.
Lili Ross, junior from Beaumont, has played the most out of the four goalkeepers, with seven games played. Ross has 19 saves and only four goals scored against her.
“We have played all four different goalkeepers now, and the goalkeeper position is very competitive, and we’re taking it week by week,” Salas said. “I can’t even name the goalkeeper right now because it’s so close. We’re looking forward to the goalkeeper position stepping up big and making big saves and also leading the team.”
Another key position going into conference play for the Wildcats will be the midfielder position. The two midfielders this season are Abby Smith, graduate student from Flower Mound, and Taylor Sarver, senior from Medford, Oregon.
“They cover a lot of space; they have a leader-by-demonstration mentality, and we’ve improved a lot in the midfield since last year, so we’re excited to see them step up in conference play,” Salas said.
The offense has been a struggle this season, with the team scoring a combined total of only six goals through 10 games. In the last two games against Oral Roberts and the University of Texas San Antonio, they were able to score one goal in each game.
ACU ended up tying with Oral Roberts and losing to UTSA. While the results may not have been what the Wildcats hoped for, the increased offensive play is a good sign going into conference play.
“The UTSA game was very empowering for our team,” Salas said. “UTSA is another top team in the nation in the American Conference and won their Conference USA just a couple of years ago. So, for us we’ve done really well and continued to move in and around the attack and that’s what we’ve been focusing on.”
After they play Seattle, the Wildcats will play three straight games on the road against Grand Canyon University, California Baptist University and Utah Valley University.
“All three of those away games will be really tough matchups with Grand Canyon who won our conference last season, Utah Valley who is another top 40 team in the nation,” Salas said. “We’ve been telling the team we can do hard things and really living into that.”
