University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Open Conference Play Friday vs. South Alabama
10/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Cajuns
Open Conference Play Friday vs. South Alabama
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003
Friday's match will be the first of two scheduled for this weekend at Cajun Field. On Sunday, the Cajuns will host in-state foe Tulane at 1 p.m.
The Cajuns (4-4-1) enter the USA match looking to end a three-match winless streak and register a goal for the first time in three matches. The injury-plagued UL Lafayette squad has been shutout in the last three matches.
The Cajuns have played two of those matches without their leading scorer Tiffany Garber. Garber's status is still unsure and the decision of whether she will play or not will be made within the hours approaching the match. The Lafayette native, also the team's leading scorer with four goals, has spent the past two-plus weeks recovering from an ankle injury suffered in the LSU match.
UL Lafayette will receive some reinforcement for Friday's match. Senior Ashley Delahoussaye, who had been out the past two weeks recovering from a knee surgery, will be back on the field for the first time since the season opener against Jackson State in which she scored two goals.
Delahoussaye could be the spark needed for an offense that has scored just five goals in the last eight matches.
“We're about as healthy as we've been all season,” said head coach Dave Poggi whose team has seen two players go down to season-ending injuries. “But were still far from being 100 percent."
“To be 4-4-1 at this stage of the season considering all of the injuries and now getting a couple of people back it is a good sign,” Poggi said. “Hopefully over the next few weeks we can continue to get people back at 100 percent so that we can build upon our success and make a run for a conference championship.”
Also returning for the USA match is freshman forward Lauren Schwindt who missed the Alabama match last week serving her suspension for a red card issued to her in the McNeese State match Sept. 21.
South Alabama (3-5-2) has won only one of its last six matches and has been shutout five times this season. The Jaguars snapped a four-match winless streak last weekend with a 2-0 win over Alabama A&M.
Like the Cajuns, the Jaguars have struggled to produce goals. USA has found the back of the net just eight times in 10 matches and has been shutout five times this season.
Louisiana-Lafayette is 0-2-1 all-time in Sun Belt openers and versus South Alabama.
The Cajuns have never scored against the Jaguars in three meetings, but in the last two matches USA only has a 1-0 advantage in goals scored.
The only Jaguars goal in the last two matches came in the final 30-seconds of the 2001 match played at Moore Park in Carencro as USA escaped with a 1-0 win in its only other visit to the Cajuns home field.
Last season the two teams opened conference play in Mobile and played to a scoreless draw. Liza Preseault made 10 saves for the Cajuns including two in the overtime session.
The Jaguars are 4-0-1 all-time in conference openers. USA won both of its league openers while a member of the Big South Conference in 1997 and 1998 and is 2-0-1 in Sun Belt openers.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
