ABILENE - The rivalry between Abilene Christian's and Midwestern State's soccer teams reaches its conclusion Thursday when the two sides meet for a fourth time at the Lone Star Conference Championship.
The match between the previous two conference champions is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. at The Pitch in the Buffalo Sports Park on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Links to live stats and video are posted on the
conference championship page hosted at GoBuffsGo.com.
Midwestern State was one of the league's dominant programs when ACU came on the scene in 2007, and as such, the Mustangs won the first five battles by a combined score of 10-3. But the series then started to turn in the Wildcats' favor in late 2010 when they shocked MSU, 2-0, in the conference title match. The Wildcats went on to win three of four meetings in 2011, including both regular season contests and a second-round NCAA Championship match.
ACU's most recent victory over Midwestern State took place here just last week and was its fifth over the last seven games of the series, which trimmed the Mustangs' all-time series lead to 6-5-1.
The Wildcats won the match, 2-0, receiving goals in the 38th and 51st minutes by
Andrea Carpenter and
Stephanie Heron, respectively.
Arielle Moncure's shutout was her sixth of the season and was largely the result of a fine defensive effort that held the Mustangs without a second-half shot.
The schools tied at 1-1 during a midweek September showdown in Wichita Falls earlier in the season. Wildcat
Megan Turner scored first for ACU in the 62nd minute, but the lead quickly vanished as a missed clearance resulted in Maddie Fraser's goal four minutes later.
That deadlocked decision brought MSU's overall record to an uncharacteristic 1-6-1, but the Mustangs rallied to finish their season at 5-3-1 - a stretch that featured a 4-1 victory over first-place West Texas A&M.
The Wildcats began to peak shortly afterward as well and won five of its last six to dig itself out of last place and quality for the postseason for a fifth-consecutive season. ACU began its turnaround with a 3-0 win at Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 7, and then after suffering its second 1-0 loss of the year to Angelo State, won its final four by a combined score of 9-1.
As participants in the #4/#5 quarterfinal match, the winner of Midwestern State and ACU will move on to face top-seed West Texas in Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal. The championship is slated to start Sunday at 1 p.m.
#3 Angelo State will face #6 Texas Woman's in the first Thursday quarterfinal at noon. The Rambelles and Pioneers split their season series at 1-1, and the winner will advance into the semifinals vs. #2 Incarnate Word.
The winner of the conference tournament claims the LSC Tournament Championship and the league's automatic qualifying position into the NCAA Division II Championship.
Ticket Information
All tickets sold are considered General Admission and prices are $7 for adult/senior and $3 for youth/student. There will be no online sales; all tickets can be bought at the gate the day of the match.
There will be three different sessions for the tournament: Quarterfinals-Matches 1 & 2; Semifinals-Matches 3 & 4; Championship-Championship Match.
Students from all participating schools will be admitted for $3 if they present their Student ID.
