ABILENE, Texas – Finishing a Texas road trip, the SUU soccer team was defeated 4-0 at Abilene Christian on Sunday afternoon.
The match began with the Thunderbirds on the front foot, as they took three shots and forced two saves in just over ten minutes.
Just a few minutes later, it would be the Wildcats who had their chances to score. In the 14th minute, a pair of shots found their way on target, but were both saved by SUU goalkeeper Jazmyn Brass just seconds apart.
The scoreless deadlock was broken in the 25th minute, when Abilene Christian drew a foul in the box. Baylie Simon would step up and convert the penalty kick to make it 1-0 for ACU.
Just six minutes later, the Wildcats would add another to make the score 2-0.
Southern Utah would have one more chance to find the back of the net, but a Sicily Clark shot in the 39th minute was saved to keep the visitors off the board heading to the break.
Second half
Things would quickly go from bad to worse for the T-birds at the start of the second half, as ACU would add a third goal just two minutes into the second half.
Just under two minutes later, the Wildcats would make it 4-0.
SUU would record 12 shots in the remainder of the match, but were unable to find a goal and were ultimately shut out in the 4-0 loss.
The T-birds totaled 18 shots in the defeat, recording 10 on target that forced 10 total saves from two different ACU goalkeepers.
With the loss, the Thunderbirds fall to 2-7-2 on the season, including 1-2-0 in WAC play.
“We had the chances (to score) early,” said SUU head coach Kai Edwards post-match.
“We have a good weekend coming up, so we must focus on that immediately. We look forward to ACU coming back to Cedar City,” he added.
Up next
Southern Utah (2-7-2, 1-2-0 WAC) returns to Cedar City for two matches, first hosting Cal Baptist on Thursday, Oct. 9.
Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics.
