The soccer team is 2-1 after a road trip to Southeastern Louisiana Friday and Nicholls State on Sunday and will look to stay in conference title contention with wins this weekend.
On Friday night, freshman Christina Arteaga’s scored the only and eventually game-winning goal in the 38th minute, as ACU defeated SELU 1-0. Arteaga’s goal just made it past, skimming off the Lady Lion’s keeper’s fingertips before hitting the back of the net. It was her second of the season, but she wasn’t done on the weekend. Arteaga also leads the team with 36 shots.
ACU’s defense kept the Southeastern’s shot total in single digits, and freshman goalkeeper Erin Smith caught all three shots on goal to preserve the victory.
The Wildcats two-game winning streak came to an abrupt end when they lost 2-1 against Nicholls. The game was delayed for 90 minutes in the first half, something senior Megan Baer said she hoped would help the team regroup.
“I felt the lightning delay enabled us to reset, and get back into the swing of things and just get settled,” Baer said. “I felt like we didn’t start the game well. I personally thought the break was a good thing coming out the first couple of minutes, and just their two shots from way out, you know we waited to long to fight back.”
Both teams were scoreless in the first half, but Nicholls took a 2-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half, scoring goals on the 55th and 68th minute.
Arteaga would answer with her third goal of the season in the 85th minute. Baer found her in the crowded box and Arteaga kicked it past the keeper, but it would ultimately not be enough.
ACU is now 2-1 in Southland Conference play heading into the weekend against Central Arkansas and Northwestern State. Freshman defender Gabrielle Symmank said the upcoming home games are critical.
“We definitely want to overcome the weekend, because we were supposed to win against [Nicholls] and we wanted to be 3-0, so just getting the two wins weekend so we can get back on track,” Symmank said.
Weather could play a factor this weekend, as rain continues pound the Abilene area, but Symmank said if the games are played, the Wildcats have no excuses.
“It might make it a little rough, but we have to overcome it and just forget about it, because we’re both playing in the same weather conditions, so just playing soccer,” she said.
Central Arkansas enters the weekend at 2-1, while Northwestern State is winless at 0-3.
