No. 6 Abilene Christian Advances in Penalty Shootout over No. 3 McNeese
Southland Conference
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Regulation and overtime were not enough to decide a winner between No. 3 Abilene Christian and sixth-seeded Abilene Christian in the second game of the Southland tournament, with the Wildcats prevailing in the penalty shootout, 5-3.
Abilene Christian had the best of the opening chances, with First Team All-Conference forward Dylan Owens leading a series of solo blistering runs through her offensive third.
However, despite multiple threatening setups on both ends, neither team was able to find a breakthrough. The two sides entered halftime deadlocked at 0-0, each team only managing one shot on goal apiece.
The opening seconds after the intermission saw the most clear-cut scoring chance of the day to that point, with another run from Owens forcing a close-range low save from Goalkeeper of the Year Emma Roccaforte.
Another transition play from ACU as the game approached 36:00 to play saw a shot from Christina Arteaga off of an Owens cross skirt just wide left of the net. With nearly 25 minutes to play, Owens again created a chance for sophomore Sam Vestal, whose shot nearly took a friendly deflection before Roccaforte scrambled to cover it.
McNeese’s trademark physical defense performed well to contain the speed of ACU’s front line, but the Cowgirls missed much of their offensive firepower with the absence of Player of the Year Savannah LaRicci due to injury. They got their first quality scoring chance from senior Kayla Goedicke, who saw her one-on-one shot from the center edge of the box rifle just high of the crossbar.
As the second-half minutes ticked down, Roccaforte was made to save another quality point-blank ACU shot, this time from senior Megan Baer from the six-yard box.
McNeese nearly stole a late winner with two last-ditch chances in the final minute, but it would take more than regulation to find a winner between the three and six seeds.
The Wildcats opened the scoring chances in the first overtime, with a left-footed shot from Arteaga going just wide right over Roccaforte’s goal and another long-range shot from the Freshman of the Year being frantically gathered by the Cowgirl shot stopper.
At the end of the first 10-minute overtime period, McNeese was still clearly on its back foot, being outshot 13-8 with six of those on goal for ACU compared to the Cowgirls’ three. Roccaforte was forced to make six saves through the first three periods of play, facing 13 shots.
The second overtime fared no better in producing the golden goal, and the two sides would be forced to decide the winner with a penalty shootout.
Both teams exchanged three successful attempts before Morgan Middleton’s attempt went high to edge ACU ahead 4-3. Caity Acosta shot next with a chance to send the Wildcats to the semifinals, slotting her attempt home to the top right corner for a 5-3 shootout win.
Up against one of the Southland’s most prolific offenses, ACU outpaced and outgunned the Cowgirls, winning the shots battle 15-9 (7-4 on goal) and forcing seven saves from Roccaforte. Arteaga was the driving force, notching five shots with two on goal for the Wildcats.
Abilene Christian (9-10) has won its first Division I postseason game and will face the No. 2 Stephen F. Austin in the first semifinal Friday at 4 p.m. on the
Southland Digital Network.