LAKE CHARLES –A late handball foul was the deciding factor in what had been one of the most memorable comebacks for the McNeese State women's soccer team who suffered another heartbreaking overtime loss as Abilene Christian squeaked out a 3-2 victory over the Cowgirls on Sunday at Cowgirl Field.
 
The call resulted in a penalty kick attempt just two minutes into the second overtime period that saw the Wildcats (7-7-2, 6-1-1 SLC) convert and walk away with the win. The defeat occurred just minutes after McNeese (6-8, 3-5 SLC) fought back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the ballgame with only five seconds remaining in the contest.
 
"Our girls did an amazing job today," said head coach Scooter Savoie. "We knew coming in that we were going to be in a bit of a scramble and we saw that early. We knew that we needed to defend and counter. We did a good job keeping the game manageable."
 
"It was amazing for our character that they went ahead by two with four minutes left and then we tied the game in the final three minutes. (Sara) Ortiz came up with another last minute goal. We were just managing the game to get the point and give ourselves a chance to win. Players decide games and that was an unfortunate circumstance. It wasn't our players fault but just was an unfortunate circumstance."
 
A victory or a tie would have bettered Cowgirls' chances to move up in the Southland Conference standings with just two weeks left in the regular season. As a result, McNeese is on the outside looking in as it sits one point out of sixth place with just three contests left.
 
The Cowgirls are no strangers to late call penalty kicks as Stephen F. Austin used a handball foul to help them tie the ballgame up against McNeese back on Oct. 4. The Ladyjacks would eventually win the game in overtime.
 
The Wildcats came up with the first goal of the match in 20^th minute that held until intermission. ACU controlled much of the first half with 13 shots while limiting the Cowgirls to only two.
 
Abilene Christian upped its lead to a two goal score of McNeese in the 85^th minute and seemed to be well on its way to a victory.
 
However, the Cowgirls refused to give up and with less than two minutes left in the match provided two goals that would send the contest into overtime.
 
Junior Hannah Sutherland found sophomore striker Gabi D'Alesandro who launched a beautiful shot over the head over from about 15 yards out at the 87:25 mark to cut the ACU lead in half. It was D'Alesandro's third goal of the season while Sutherland was credited with her first assist.
 
The rest of the two minutes left in the game was a testy showdown that brought out all of the guns from each bench. McNeese found itself on the positive side of the field with less than a minute, which is where the careful timing phase began.
 
Sophomore Sara Ortiz came up big once again this season as she met the ACU keeper one-on-one with only seconds left. With everyone watching and the Cowgirls breath held, Ortiz sent a shot that slipped behind the keeper and hit the net to knot the score up right as regulation expired.
 
The McNeese bench exploded in celebration after having used the last two minutes to survive and advance into yet another overtime period. Ortiz provided her third goal of the season and second within the last five matches.
 
The two teams regained their cool and set their sights on the overtime period. The first 10 minutes ended in a stalemate between the two teams while McNeese fended off a few close calls.
 
It wasn't until the 102^nd minute that ACU was able to score the victory on a penalty kick by Maria Gomez to end the game.
 
ACU held the advantage in shots taken, 25-12, and shots on goal, 4-2. The Wildcats also led in corner kicks, 10-3.
 
Junior Bettina Brulhart and freshman Nola Pricket led the team with three shots apiece. Starting goalkeeper Lauren Sestak was in the net for the first 90 minutes and logged six saves. Maggie Marks was in between the posts during overtime and collected one save.
 
The Cowgirls will hit the road next weekend and begin with a contest at Houston Baptist on Oct. 23 followed by a match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Oct. 25.