ABILENE, Texas – For the third consecutive season the HBU women's soccer team will open Southland Conference play against the Abilene Christian Wildcats with this year's match taking place Friday evening at ACU's Elmer Gray Stadium.
Both of the last two conference openers between the two teams have gone to double overtime with HBU (1-6-0) pulling out a 1-0 win in the 108
th minute at home last year while ACU (4-2-1) won 2-1 thanks to a 106
th minute PK in 2017 in Abilene.
The Huskies most recently dropped a tough 1-0 match to UTSA this past Sunday and are looking to break a six-game losing skid. So far this season, HBU has been accurate with more than half of the team's shot attempts on target but that has only translated to seven goals through seven games. In goal, redshirt freshman
Ashtyn Franks has totaled 33 saves which ties her for second-most in the conference.
ACU, the defending SLC tournament champion, is coming off a 1-1 draw at home against #22 Baylor and is 3-0 on its home turf this season. The Wildcats are led offensively by freshman Natalie Jones with four goals while junior Christina Arteaga has three goals with one assist and senior Shay Johnson has also netted three goals. Erin Smith, a junior, has seen the majority of the minutes in goal with six starts and boasts a .706 save percentage and a 1.82 goals against average.
The game against the Wildcats is the only match for the Huskies this weekend with visits to Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin set for the following weekend.
