Cajuns Falter Against ULM in Season Finale

MONROE, La.-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's soccer team finished up the regular season with a 3-1 loss on the road to Louisiana-Monroe on Friday afternoon.

The Cajuns (9-7-4, 5-3-3 Sun Belt Conference) fell behind early, and were unable to battle back for the win.

“Obviously, you want to end your season on a high note with a win, but today was one of our flattest days,” head coach Scot Wieland remarked of his team's performance. “I give a lot of credit to Louisiana-Monroe. They played the way you are supposed to play on Senior Day. They left it all out on the field and I give them a ton of credit.

“Now we look forward to conference tournament.”

The Cajuns fell behind early in the match as the Warhawks got a pair of goals within five minutes of each other.

At the 27:41 mark of the first half, ULM's Elena Vazquez took a pass from Amy Porch and put it in the back off of the far post for the first goal of the match.

Just over three minutes later at 30:23, Tiffany Bombard collected a Rachel Hobson pass and netted the goal to extend the lead to 2-0. The goal was Bombard's fourth of the season.

The Cajuns answered with a goal just before the half. With one second remaining in the first half, Kelli Jestes (Fort Collins, Colo.) netted her team-leading ninth goal of the season. Jestes took a pass from Taylor Zak (Weatherford, Texas) and cut the lead to 2-1.

Jestes currently stands just one goal shy of the single-season record set by Stacy Smith back in 2002.

In the second half, Louisiana-Monroe wasted little time as they added another goal to push their lead back to two just 30-seconds into the half. ULM's Sara Islas netted her fourth goal of the season with an assist from Vazquez.

The Cajuns took 18 shots with eight shots on goal. However, UL was unable to generate the necessary offense to catch the Warhawks.

Senior goalie Kristen Malen (Victorville, Calif.) recorded six saves on the day, but surrendered three goals in the loss.

The Ragin' Cajuns will regroup and prepare for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The SBC Tournament begins on Wednesday, Nov. 7, in Mobile, Ala.

-www.RaginCajuns.com-