ABILENE, Texas- McNeese's Havana Johnson's golden goal with two minutes to play in the second overtime lifted the Cowgirls to a 1-0, double overtime road win at Abilene Christian on Friday afternoon.

 

With the win, the Cowgirls improve to 4-2-1 in league play, 10-5-1 overall, while Abilene Christian falls to 8-5-1 overall and 3-3-1 in the conference. The victory also snapped a tie for fourth place in the league standings between the two teams as the Cowgirls now sit in sole possession of fourth place.

 

"Maddie Neidig put in a lot of minutes at forward and allowed Havana and Anna to be a lot fresher at the end of the match," said head coach Drew Fitzgerald. "Havana did a nice job of taking advantage of her best opportunity of the match.  Overall just happy to get the points on the road."

 

With two minutes left in the second overtime period, Johnson found the back of the net after she outran three ACU defenders and hit a great shot past the goalkeeper to win the game for the Cowgirls.

 

With that goal, Johnson picked up her fourth game-winning goal on the season and also tied  Morgan Middleton for the team lead with six goals.

 

The McNeese defense did a phenomenal job of containing this dynamic ACU offense.

 

Christina Arteaga, the leader of the ACU attack, entered the match second in the conference in shots, but was held to none in Friday's match.

 

"I liked our fight today against a very good Abilene team," said Fitzgerald. "They controlled much of the 2nd half but our back line, and Sarah Clayton in particular, stayed strong."

 

Both teams ended the game with 17 shots, but the Wildcats finished with an 8-6 shots-on-goal advantage over the Cowgirls.

 

The Cowgirls will be back on the field Sunday at 1 to take on Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

 

Cowgirl fans can follow the game via live stream or live stats through mcneesesports.com and also follow @McNeeseSoccer on Twitter.