The Wildcats hosted Sam Houston Friday night and Stephen F. Austin Sunday afternoon for their last home weekend series of the regular season, securing the victory against both teams with a score of 2-1 against Sam Houston and 3-1 against Stephen F. Austin.
ACU met Sam Houston earlier in October, where it resulted in a loss, 1-2. Knowing this, ACU knew they had to step up their game in order to come out on top.
“We came into this weekend with a plan of trying to be more composed and more cold-blooded when it came to finishing balls in the box,” said head coach Casey Wilson. “I thought we did a good job of that. It seemed there for a while we were not getting a break, but it was nice being able to secure it.”
The game started slowly, with no goals made in the first period. Yet once the second period hit, both teams started attacking.
In the 65th minute, Sam Houston received the cross in front of the box, putting it in the goal to take the lead 1-0.
Only five minutes later, Christina Arteaga, a senior forward from Pflugerville, carried the ball down the left side of the field, sending the ball crossing over the box. The ball deflected off of Sam Houston, bouncing in front of Laura Mauldin, a senior forward from McKinney, where she was able to take control and sink it in the net. The Wildcats scored the equalizer, making it a 1-1 game.
The game pushed into overtime, with eagerness to secure a win. With only one minute into overtime, Caylen Wright, a junior forward from Joshua, drew the foul right outside the box. Joss lined up, taking the kick, sending it into the deep top left corner of the goal, giving ACU the win, 2-1.
Sunday afternoon the Wildcats met Stephen F. Austin, the only undefeated team in the conference, who they lost to last time, 0-3.
Despite SFA being undefeated, ACU knew they had to give everything they had in order to gain the points they needed at home.
“Going into the game we knew they were undefeated,” Natalie Jones, a junior midfielder from Lubbock, said. “We wanted to ruin it for them. We had a lot of energy throughout the entire game and it was really fun to play today.”
The Wildcats and Lumberjacks both started strong and aggressive, with both teams receiving a corner kick within the first five minutes.
Off the Wildcats’ third corner kick of the night, the ball was sent straight into the box, where it was deflected off several players. Natalie Wodka, a senior defender from Allen, and Hannah Gage, a sophomore defender from Roanoke, both had shot attempts but right as Gages’ ball was blocked by the goalkeeper on the left side of the goal, Wright scooped the ball sinking it in the right side. This put ACU on the board, 1-0.
In the 29th minute, Arteaga carried the ball down the field, crossing it over in the air to Jones, who was able to collect the ball and put it in the back of the net on the right side, adding to the Wildcats tally, 2-0.
Thirteen minutes later, Nicole Barham, a junior forward from Long Beach, California, got past her defender on the right side leaving her open to cross the ball. She sent the ball into the box, where Jones was open. The goalkeeper ran out to block, but Jones slipped it right past her, to bring the score, 3-0.
The Wildcats shut down the first period but left an opening in the second where SFA was able to score, bringing the final, 3-1.
Over the weekend series, ACU tallied 35 shot attempts and 16 shots on goal. Lily Foster made eight saves, shutting the opponents to a combined two goals.
“We needed this two-game win series,” Wilson said.” We were on the road a couple of weekends ago and we lost both, so this kind of rectified it. These wins were huge especially leading so close to the conference tournament and at home.”
With one more week of conference play, the seats are starting to be decided for the conference tournament. Stephen F. Austin sits in first place with 24 points, gaining an automatic seat to the conference tournament. Sam Houston sits in second place with 15 points and Lamar is in a close third with 14 points. ACU ranks fourth with 13 points, striving to knock Lamar out of its seat this upcoming week. The top three seats move on to the WAC Conference Tournament in Abilene, TX.
The Wildcats hit the road for the last time this season taking on the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley Thursday at 7 p.m. in Edinburg and Lamar Saturday at 1 p.m. in Beaumont. The game against UTRGV will stream on ESPN+ and Lamar will stream on WAC Digital Network.
