LAFAYETTE
- Whether it was planned or not, the early
pressure applied by Louisiana's Ragin'
Cajun women's soccer team made a huge
impact here Wednesday afternoon.That
pressure allowed the Cajuns to get some
early opportunities, and the hosts took
advantage of one of them in taking a 1-0
victory over Louisiana-Monroe at Moore
Park.
Melissa Purvis scored her third goal of
the season less than five minutes into the
game, and the Cajun defense made that
stand up as the squad took its first home
win and snapped a five-match loss streak.
"It was so big to get that early goal,"
said Purvis, the team's leading point
producer as a freshman this year. "It
really got our confidence up, and that
keeps you going even when you get tired."
The Cajuns (2-6), beating the Lady
Indians for the second straight year,
forced the action offensively from the
opening whistle. UL's first five shots
were all on goal, and ULM goaltender
Jessica Robinson was under duress on
several of those shots.
"We were looking for a hard-fought game
and we got it," said Cajun head coach Dave
Poggi, "but that was an important first
goal. I really thought if we could get
another goal early we could have relaxed a
lot more.
"Later on, we started getting tired and
they started bringing some of their back
players forward, and we had to work really
hard on defense."
Part of that defensive plan was to shut
down ULM midfielder Chelsea Shriner, the
Lady Indians' top threat with seven goals
this year. Poggi said that freshman
defenders Natalie Hanks and Sherryl Owens
were marking Shriner, and the ULM
sophomore never even got off a shot on
goal.
That helped newcomer goalie Leslie Beckman, making her third appearance and
second start, post her first shutout of
the year. Beckman had seven saves, but all
were garden-variety stops as the defense
held ULM (5-4-2) in check.
"The second half was just good
defensive teamwork," said junior
midfielder Sara Vienberg. "Our defense was
a little chaotic early. We've had some
troubles in the beginning of a lot of
games and have given up some scores, but
we were a lot more ready today."
That was obvious, especially when
junior forward Leah Chandler lofted a pass
deep in the middle and Purvis outran
Indian defender Emily Holliday to the
ball. She also beat Robinson there and put
a bouncing shot into a wide-open net for
what turned out to be the game-winner.
That goal gave the Cajuns their first
lead since their other win of the year, a
1-0 victory over Jacksonville in
tournament play exactly one month ago, and
also the second-ever home win for the
second-year program.
Robinson made nine saves, breaking up
strong scoring opportunities on shots from
Purvis, Chandler and Brandy Young in the
first half and Chandler and Lesley Francis
in the second, but her teammates could
never get the equalizer. The closest the
Indians came to a tying goal were three
corner-kick chances that were cleared out
by the UL defense.
"This was a very good non-conference
win for us," said Poggi. "We got a little
tired and a little flat, but we played
well defensively and I was proud of that."
