University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Middle Tennessee
Cajuns Fall To Middle Tennessee In Regular Season Finale
11/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Sunday, Nov. 2, 2003
LAFAYETTE - Middle Tennessee used four second-half goals to pull away from a defensive standoff with Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's soccer team and post a 4-0 win in the regular season finale for both clubs here Sunday afternoon at Cajun Field.
The loss was the fourth straight for the Cajuns (6-12-1, 2-6 Sun Belt) who finished tied for sixth in the Sun Belt standings with Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State. However, the Cajuns did not have an advantage in any of the tiebreakers and will end up being the No. 8 seed for the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
MT (11-6-2, 5-1-2 Sun Belt) extended its unbeaten streak to five matches and finished tied for third in the league standings with Western Kentucky. The Blue Raiders snapped a two-match losing streak against the Cajuns and recorded their first win in Lafayette.
Neither team created many scoring chances in the opening frame and as a result went into the locker room knotted at 0-0. The Cajuns defense kept the Blue Raiders off-balance and limited them to just one shot on goal.
"We dominated play in the first half and controlled the tempo," said UL Lafayette coach Dave Poggi. "We had opportunities for great scoring chances but were unable to convert."
Middle Tennessee finally broke through the Cajun defense in the second half with the first goal of the game off the foot of midfielder Rachel Holmes at the 57:28 mark. Defender Katy Rayburn picked up the assist on the pass to Holmes who beat her defender down the leftside for the match-winner.
"After they (MT) scored the first goal we had a let down and lost our focus," Poggi added. "After that we fell victim to counterattacks as we were trying to play for the tie."
The Blue Raiders continued to pressure the UL Lafayette defense and converted on a corner kick by Rachel Holmes that was directed in off the crossbar on a header by Jenny Cox in the 70th minute.
MT added two more goals in the final 10 minutes of the match and capped off the scoring when Danielle LaDuke scored her first goal of the season.
The Blue Raiders fired off 13 shots, eight of them shots on goal, in the second half.
The Cajuns ended the match with eight shots led by Ashley Delahoussaye and Lindsay Webb with two apiece.
Louisiana-Lafayette will return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 5 in a 10 a.m. match against top-seeded Denver (14-2, 7-1 Sun Belt) in the opening round of the 2003 Hardee's Sun Belt Conference Women's Soccer Tournament in Bowling Green, Ky.
MATCH SUMMARY
Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Lafayette
Date: Sunday, Nov. 2, 2003
Site: Lafayette, La. (Cajun Field)
Attendance: 174
Goals by period
1 2 T
MT (11-6-2, 5-1-2 SBC)
0 4 4
UL Lafayette (6-12-1, 2-6 SBC)
0 0 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 57:28 MT Holmes, Rachel (Rayburn, Katy)
2. 69:45 MT Cox, Jenny (Holmes, Rachel)
3. 81:15 MT Linder, Sarah (Miguez, Laura)
4. 87:13 MT LaDuke, Danielle (Miguez, Laura)
Shots: MT 19, UL Lafayette 8
Shots on Goal: MT 9, UL Lafayette 3
Saves: MT 3 (Perreault 2, Schuepbach 1), UL Lafayette 5
(Brannon)
Fouls: WKU 22, UL Lafayette 14
Corner Kicks: MT 7, UL Lafayette 1
Cautions: MT 3 (Elliot, Ashley 41:40; Wohlhueter, Sara
46:26; Wade, Beth 75:30), UL Lafayette 0
Offsides: MT 10, UL Lafayette 4
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
