Soccer: Louisiana, Little Rock Battle to Scoreless Draw

Ragin’ Cajuns clinch No. 2 seed in West Division; wraps up regular-season at A-State

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Women’s Soccer team held a 17-6 advantage in shots but was unable to find the back of the net as it battled Sun Belt Conference rival Little Rock to a scoreless draw late Thursday at the Ragin’ Cajuns Track/Soccer Facility.

With the tie, Louisiana (8-3-1, 4-2-1 Sun Belt) clinched the No. 2 seed in the SBC West Division and will open next month’s Sun Belt Conference Championships against the No. 3 seed from the SBC East on Nov. 4.

Freshman Lauryn Starwood kept her shutout streak intact for Louisiana, stopping three shots while the Ragin’ Cajuns extended their school-record streak of not allowing a goal to 712 minutes.

With the start of the match delayed for over 90 minutes due to lightning in the area, Louisiana held a 5-2 advantage in shots in the first half with Little Rock’s Saskia Wagner stopping attempts by Julianne DeBlieux, Skyla Sykes and Rachel Sutter. The Trojans recorded the first shot of the match when Bergros Asgeirsdottir’s from the left corner of the 18-yard box was saved by Starwood.

Starwood, who lowered her goals against average to a national-best 0.13, stopped attempts by Mari Young in the 54^th minute and Doro Greulich in the 87^th minute to help preserve Louisiana’s eight shutout of the season – tying the school-record that was set last season.

Mya Smith had a pair of shot attempts saved by Wagner in overtime while the freshman goalie also scooped up an attempt by Lizzie Mayfield in the 109^th minute.

Mayfield led Louisiana with six shots with Sykes adding three.

Young and Greulich each attempted a pair of shots to lead Little Rock (2-5-2, 2-3-2 Sun Belt) with Asgeirsdottir and Mariella Stephens each attempting one. Wagner stopped seven shots for the Trojans, who notched their fourth tie in the last seven meetings against Louisiana.

Louisiana will wrap up the regular-season on Sunday when it travels to Jonesboro, Ark., to face league leader Arkansas State (7-1-1, 6-0-1 Sun Belt) in a noon contest. The match will be streamed live on ESPN&#434343434343;.