Cajuns Conclude
Season with 3-2 Loss to UNT in SBC Tournament
Erika Saffer and Erin Thompson both scored goals for the Cajuns.
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005
MOBILE, Ala. - Louisiana's Ragin'
Cajuns women's soccer team fell in the Sun Belt Conference
Tournament 3-2 to top-seeded North Texas Wednesday, Nov. 2
in Mobile, Ala. The Cajuns end the first season under head
coach Scot Wieland with a 4-10-3 record.
The Ragin'
Cajuns took a 1-0 lead with a goal from Erika Saffer at
5:21. The freshman from Loveland, Colo., took a pass from
Erin Thompson and slid it by North Texas' all-conference
goalie Kandice Ellis.
The Mean
Green responded with a goal of their own at the 28-minute
mark as Julie Radford put the ball past UL goalkeeper
Stephanie Weston. UNT took the lead before the half, as
Dani Slavonic scored a goal with 10 minutes remaining in the
half.
In the
second half, the Mean Green added another goal to make the
score 3-1. Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Heather
Hutyra scored what would ultimately be the match-winning
goal at the 63-minute mark.
The Cajuns
scored their second goal of the morning as Thompson took a
pass from Melissa Barger and punched it in for the goal.
The goal
for Saffer was her third of the season. Thompson's goal in
the second half was the first of the season and also the
first of her career.
The assists
for Thompson and Barger were the first assists of the season
for the duo and also marked the second career assists for
each.
Defensively
for the Cajuns, Weston, a freshman from Burnaby, B.C.,
Canada, took the loss allowing three goals on 16 shots and
11 shots on goal, saving seven. Weston finished the season
with 85 saves and 30 goals allowed. The 85 saves rank
Weston 3rd in the Cajuns season annals and 4th all-time in
the career list.
At the
75-minute mark of the match, sophomore Kristen Malen entered
the match in relief of Weston. Malen, who started every
match in 2004 as a freshman, recorded one save raising her
career total to 64.
For the
Ragin' Cajuns, the match marked the seventh time in school
history that UL faced North Texas. The Mean Green are still
perfect against the Cajuns. UL scored two goals on UNT for
the first time in school history.
The Cajuns
two goals mark only the second time in school history UL has
scored in the SBC Tournament. The Ragin' Cajuns avoided
being shutout in 2002 as the Cajuns fell to Western
Kentucky, 2-1 in a match that was also played in Mobile.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
