After facing the first place team in the Lone Star Conference on Friday, the Incarnate Word women's soccer team welcomed the second place team in the LSC, Abilene Christian, to Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium for a midday match on Sunday.
The result, sadly, was the same – a tough 1-0 loss for the Cardinals (8-5-2, 6-3) with a goal coming against them in the second half despite great effort by UIW's players.
ACU's Kristen Cavallo was in the right place at the right time as a ball that was bouncing loose in the UIW penalty area fell in front of her and she dribbled to the right of the Cardinal net and then arched a shot high to the opposite corner to break the stalemate, 1-0, in the 76th minute.
The goal against was especially heartbreaking for UIW after Cardinal goalkeeper Tori Puentes had come up huge with a penalty kick-save just ten minutes earlier.
Of the 12 shots managed by the UIW offense, only 5 were on-net, but the team's best chance came late with Cardinals trailing. Leading scorer Sarah Hernandez got a pass threaded to her nicely by Amber Guenther and had an open lane right on to the goal. Hernandez broke right and then shot low and left – but ACU's goalie stretched out just far enough to make the save.
The match was the final home game of the 2010 season for Incarnate Word and the women will be on the road against Northeastern State University on Friday at 3 p.m.
