Soccer Rally Falls Short In 3-1 Loss To Warhawks

Louisiana to face Little Rock/Coastal Carolina in opening round of SBC Championships

LAFAYETTE – The duo of Lena Goppel and Theoni Zerva each scored a goal and added an assist and ULM built a quick lead and earned a 3-1 victory over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in a Sun Belt Conference women’s soccer match on Sunday at the Ragin’ Cajuns Track/Soccer Facility.
 
Courtney Marten scored her 14^th goal of the season as ULM (12-3-2, 5-3-1 Sun Belt) won its fifth straight match and earned its first-ever road victory over Louisiana (6-10-2, 3-5-2 Sun Belt) in 11 tries.
 
ULM, ranked No. 2 in the nation in shots per match (22.14) and third nationally in shots on-goal per match (10.64), took a 1-0 lead in the 14^th minute after applying pressure and getting the ball in their attacking zone. Efi Brame started the run for the Warhawks with a pass to the left side of the 18-yard box where Zerva sent in a crossing pass that was headed in by Goppel for her second goal of the season.
 
The Warhawks increased their lead to 2-0 in the 26^th minute after Marten collected an errant pass from Louisiana goalkeeper Jordan Higgins and scored on an open-netter from just outside the 18-yard box.
 
Zerva got into the scoring column for ULM 18 seconds into the second half when she collected a thru pass from Goppel on the left side of the 18-yard box and sent a shot past Libby Harper into the lower right corner and giving the Warhawks a 3-0 advantage.
 
Louisiana, playing its regular-season finale, attempted a comeback behind the foot of Karleen Bedre. The junior midfielder three shots with a three-minute span in the second half with her first attempt going right of the net before her second attempt from inside the 18-yard box was knocked away by ULM goalkeeper Hailey Hillock.
 
Less than two minutes later, Lucy Ortiz would send a pass from the Ragin’ Cajuns defensive zone back to Harper, who would send a pass downfield that Bedre would collect and score past Hillock in the 71^st minute for her fifth goal of the season.
 
Bedre and Savanna Young each took a team-high three shots for Louisiana with Anna Grassinger, Alyssa Abbott, Ally White and Rachel Sutter each placing shots on-goal. Higgins, one of four seniors playing in their final home match, stopped three shots for Louisiana with Harper stopping a team-high four attempts.
 
Louisiana will return to action on Monday, Nov. 1, when it opens play in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Foley, Ala. The Ragin’ Cajuns will face either Little Rock or Coastal Carolina.
 
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