Entering a home game against Northwestern State, soccer is trying to stay hot on its 2-0 undefeated home record this season while going against a Demons team that has beaten high-caliber programs.
Looking back, the Wildcats started their home season with a 1-0 win over Tulsa with an early goal by Abby Smith, graduate midfielder from Flower Mound, and decisive dominance by Bella Medrano, freshman goalkeeper from Lubbock. Following that, the Wildcats faced Houston Christian, whom they beat 1-0 as well.
However, since then, they have fallen to Oral Roberts, East Texas A&M and North Texas consecutively. In their most recent contest, soccer lost a hard-fought 2-1 match at UNT.
Despite getting on the board against UNT with a second-half penalty kick by Smith, the Wildcats surrendered a late goal and fell short.
Head Coach Stephen Salas said he knew how close his team came.
“It was a tough three games on the road,” Salas said. “We talk about starting off strong, ending strong, which we didn’t do against UNT. We had a couple of missed opportunities, and they capitalized the last 30 seconds, so it was tough, but we’re ready to turn around against Northwestern State.”
That loss dropped ACU to 3-4 overall, but they’ll enter Thursday’s home contest with the understanding that they’ve already shown what they can do at Elmer Gray: win.
They have no easy task at hand as Northwestern State enters the matchup on the heels of a signature upset: taking down No. 19 Texas 3-2, which shows they can keep up with elite competition.
For the Wildcats, Salas said making adjustments in the midfield will be huge for this team, but the bright side is that the group, a growth from recent years, is in a good headspace ahead of this matchup.
“Northwestern State has been doing well,” Salas said. “But this is a new year, a new team for us with 10 seniors. We’re focused, we’re ready to play at home. For us, we’re 2-0 at home, we want to continue that streak and use those emotions to kind of get us over the edge.”
Kickoff is set for Thursday at 5 p.m., followed by a Sunday game at Baylor that brings the Wildcats to the end of non-conference play.
