ABILENE - The Abilene Christian soccer team defeated Midwestern State, 2-0, Friday afternoon at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch and will head into next week's Lone Star Conference Championship as the fifth seed, where its first-round opponent will once again be the Mustangs.
ACU (8-9-1, 6-7-1 LSC) has faced its rivals to the north more than any other LSC school - 12 times - and following today's win, have won five of the last seven meetings (5-1-1). Four of their showdowns have taken place in the postseason, including the last two conference championship matches.
No match against the Mustangs (6-9-3, 6-5-3 LSC) has been an easy one for ACU, but on this occasion it seemed the Wildcats were more than determined to control both sides of pitch. And that effort clearly showed in the box score, holding the opposition two corner kicks and zero shots in the second half.
ACU fired 13 shots - nine of which came in the second half - and came away with goals in the 31st and 58th minutes.
Junior forward
Andrea Carpenter scored the match's first goal, her fifth of the year, off an assist from
Julie Coppedge, and then in the second half she had a shot on goal tipped in by an alert
Stephanie Heron.
As Carpenter and senior
Krysta Grimm raced down the middle of the field, they momentarily caught MSU goalkeeper Mallory Whitworth off balance inside the 18-yard box, but Whitworth was able to get a piece of Carpenter's shot while on the ground. Luckily for ACU, Heron was left unguarded at the near post and popped the ball into an empty net.
Heron's goal was her first of the season.
MSU had a couple dangerous chances in each half, but placed only one shot on frame, which ACU goalkeeper
Arielle Moncure caught while falling to the ground. In the second half, the Mustangs blew a great chance to tie the game at 1-1 after Mickey Brown missed from point-blank range inside the six-yard box. Brown beat the ACU defense to the ball following a free kick, but was pressured from the front by Moncure and watched her shot sail high over the net.
Moncure's shutout was her sixth of the season.
The Lone Star Conference is expected to release more information on its Championship Tournament later this weekend after the conclusion of a few more matches.
