MOBILE,
Ala. -- Louisiana's Ragin Cajun women's
soccer team will try to put a tough loss
behind them Sunday, but it will be quite a
challenge as the Cajuns face Jacksonville
in a noon match at the Port City Classic.
UL Lafayette (0-1) is coming off a narrow
2-1 overtime loss to Butler Friday. Rachel
Pivarnik tallied the game-winning goal at
the 101st minute to hand the Cajuns a
season-opening defeat.
But the Cajuns certainly put a scare in
the solid Butler club. Melissa Purvis tied
the game at 1-1 with a score in the 62nd
minute.
The Cajuns recorded eight shots on
goal, compared to seven for Butler, and a
pair of UL rookies had strong opening-game
efforts. Freshman goalkeeper Shelly Simon
had four saves in her debut, and freshman
Stacey Otzmann had an assist in her first
outing.
"It was a lot of what I expected with
regards to mistakes you will make early in
a season," said Cajun head coach Dave
Poggi. "We didn't execute our free kicks
as well as we needed to. Our overall
fitness isn't quite there yet. It just
takes a while for everyone to get familiar
with each other. We just have to be
patient and keep working hard. It will all
pay off down the road.
"We've been together now for all of 16
days. Only two of our players from last
year were in the starting 11 Friday. I was
very proud of the efort and very pleased
with the potential we have."
UL will need another good outing to
compete with JU (1-0). The Dolphins, a
2000 NCAA Tournament participant, got an
overtime goal from Vanessa Illanes at the
93:15 mark to nip the host South Alabama
Jaguars late Friday evening.
"They're going to be a real challenge
for us," Poggi said. "They play a
different style than Butler, and we will
have to adjust quickly. They are very
experienced, and they know each other
really well."
Following this weekend's tournament,
the Cajuns will play at Southeastern
Louisiana and LSU next week.
