MOBILE,
Ala. -- Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun women
completed a successful opening weekend of
soccer here Sunday by defeating
Jacksonville 1-0 in the consolation finals
of the Port City Classic hosted by South
Alabama.Sara Vienberg, a transfer from
Copenhagen University, scored the lone
goal of the game on a free kick after a
foul near the end of the first half of
play. Vienberg nailed the upper corner
from 35 yards away for the score.
Jacksonville, which finished 19-3 last
season and advanced to the NCAA
Tournament, had defeated host USA 1-0 on
Saturday. Butler University, which earned
a hard-fought 2-1 victory over UL in its
opening match, topped South Alabama 2-0 in
Sunday's championship finals.
Louisiana's defense played well for a
second straight game, anchored by freshman
goalie Shelly Simon. Simon has been thrust
into action after a knee injury sidelined
2000 starter Anne Corbello.
"We were 1-1 this weekend," UL coach
Dave Poggi said, "and we've only been
together for three weeks since Aug. 14.
Shelly didn't get clearance from the NCAA
to play until Thursday night. It's still
pretty early. All the credit goes to the
players.
"As long as I don't mess them up, this
team has the potential to be good."
UL's defenders meshed well in front of
Simon for the win.
"We played two completely different
games," Poggi said. "Butler is a
high-pressure team that tries to force
mistakes. Jacksonville favors a slow
build-up with very good technique, and
they try to pick you apart.
"The key was how we played collectively
defensively. We have 9-10 new players on
the field from last year, and we played
good team defense as well as the back
line. Shelly made it look easy. She
handled everything cleanly and cleared
things in front of the goal."
Simon turned away six shots on goal on
Sunday.
UL returns to action Friday with a 4:30
p.m. match at Southeastern Louisiana and
also faces LSU at 7 p.m. next Sunday. The
home opener is Sept. 12 at Moore Park
against Centenary.
