CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team closed out a four-game homestand Thursday night and despite a rallied second half, fell just short in a 2-1 decision to Abilene Christian for its first loss of the season.
Senior
Rachel Loetzer headed one past the Wildcats' (1-0-2) goalie in the 57
th minutes off the well-placed free kick from sophomore
Emmie Barton to trim a deficit down but the Islanders (1-1-2) couldn't recover from first-half struggles. It is the second game in a row that Barton assisted Loetzer.
The Islanders outshot Abilene Christian 8-5 in the second half for the attempted comeback, but the Wildcats took a 7-3 advantage on goal through the full 90 minutes. Both of Abilene Christian's goals came within the first 20 minutes of play with senior
Zoe Theriot, two-time SLC Goalkeeper of the Week, shutting them out the rest of the way.
"Tonight's game made us better, as much as the final result didn't end in our favor," said head coach
Daniel Clitnovici. "We know the areas we need to focus on to hopefully be better next time around. You cannot start slow against a well-coached Abilene Christian team and we did just that. Coach Salas got his team firing and we ourselves down 0-2 after just 20 minutes. After that, it was an uphill battle and although we dominated several moments of the game in the remaining 70 minutes, we just couldn't create the necessary offense we needed. We will grow from this and come back stronger."
Loetzer, the reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Week, recorded the eighth goal of her career, second of the season, and second in a row. She extends her team-high point total to five on the year.
She also matched her career-high shots in a game with three, which she last did on Oct. 6, 2023 against Southeastern. She was one of three Islanders on goal tonight with their shots alongside junior
Mai-Lisa Atis and freshman
Maddy Howells.
As Barton's second assist of the season, and just third of her career, Barton now leads the team in assists with a pair on the year.
It was still the Islanders' best start to a season in program history, not having suffered a loss within the first three games of the year. It was the first meeting with Abilene Christian since the 2020-21 season which also ended with the Wildcats on top 2-1.
Photos from the game can be viewed
here.
Now, the Islanders will finally hit the road for their first trip of the year when they take on UTEP Thursday, Sept. 5 in El Paso.
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